UIDAI: The Unique Identification Authority of India on Friday launched the Scheme for Innovation and Technology Collaboration with Aadhaar (SITAA) to promote innovation and collaboration in the digital identity space. The scheme is a collaboration between startups, academia and industry in the digital identity space to strengthen India’s identity technology ecosystem. Applications for SITAA’s pilot program will be open until November 15, an official statement said.
“The pilot program will have some initial challenges that will be particularly suitable for academic institutions, startups, and industry partners. All entities that meet the eligibility criteria and offer innovative solutions are encouraged to apply for the program,” the release said. The initiative focuses on co-development of secure, scalable and indigenous identity technologies across biometric devices, authentication frameworks, data privacy, artificial intelligence and secure identity applications.
MeitY Startup Hub and NASSCOM have signed MoUs with UIDAI to serve as strategic partners. They will provide technical guidance, incubation, accelerator support, industry connections, and global reach for SITAA. The SITAA programme is in line with the national priorities of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital Public Infrastructure, ensuring a range of secure, scalable and future-ready identity solutions, the release said.
The pilot program focuses on challenges related to facial liveness detection, presentation attack detection, and contactless fingerprint authentication. The face liveness detection challenge invites startups to develop software development kits (SDKs) to work across UIDAI’s enrolment and authentication systems, among other parameters, to prevent fraud from various sources.
The pilot programme also invites proposals from academic and research institutions to develop advanced Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) solutions that strengthen Aadhaar’s face-based authentication ecosystem. Proposals have also been invited to develop SDKs for contactless fingerprint authentication using standard smartphone cameras or low-cost imaging devices, the release said.