Interview : Nicholas Foo, Affinidi

What does the Affinidi Unifier project involve?

Nicholas Foo - As you can imagine, these days everyone wants to open up its borders to boost the economy, but no one really knows how... A SingaporeThe volume of travellers fell to 98 %. And as in other countries, the recovery depends on reopening the borders, but nobody wants to see a new wave of Covid-19 cases. This means do it safelyand therefore to impose tests before departure. But with the explosion in demand, an offer of low-cost false tests has developed. That's why it's not enough to ask for a test before departure, a new test is required on arrival. Solutions have therefore emerged which help to put in place digitally verifiable certificates. In most cases, this is a QR Code which you simply scan, and this poses a number of problems.

Which ones, specifically?

N. F. - This applies in particular to the verification process. In some cases, you have to click on a URL on your phone, while others display a green sign or a QR code... There is no standard, and this is a real problem from an operational point of view, for immigration, airlines... Also, there is no possibility of carrying out a "security check". independent verification. However, the flow of people is sometimes so great that the person carrying out the verification cannot pay full attention to the check, making sure that all the criteria required for the result of the test and its authenticity have been met. There is also a interoperability problem. To take the payments sector as an example, there's American Express, Mastercard, Visa, etc. And there was a time when this meant different terminals. Today, a single terminal can handle all these different standards. What we do at Affinidi is to reproduce this for safe travel. Different standards may emerge, but we want to be able to recognise these different standards. Today, Affinidi is already integrated with nine standards.

Why is this important?

N. F. -  This solves the problem of independent verification: whatever the standard, it can be verified. This is very important from the point of view of an airline or immigration controls: countries don't want to reopen their borders only to users of one standard... It's as if a shop could only accept customers with a Visa card. That's what we're working on. Today, we're working on the Covid test results, and we've already started work on providing the vaccination status as well.

Do you use the IATA standard?

N. F. - At Affinidi, we believe that an open ecosystem is necessary to enable safe international travel. With this in mind, we are willing to work with all partners, including IATAwho have a means of verifying their data and providing the necessary data required by airlines and immigration authorities

How far have you got in rolling out your solution?

N. F. - We have launched several pilot projects, the most recent being the partnership with Singapore Airlines. It concerns passengers travelling to and from Malaysia and Indonesia. In practical terms, passengers will be able to retrieve the results of their test, which will include a QR code, so that they can share the information at check-in. At the check-in counter, the airline uses the Affinidi Unifier application to scan the test and ensure that it is genuine before issuing the boarding pass. It works in the same way with immigration on landing. The experiment began nearly two months ago, and the initial results are good.

What feedback have you had from travellers?

Nicholas Foo - Passenger feedback has been good. They like this technology because it reassures them that the validity of their test will not be called into question. And connected travellers don't like having to carry around a bundle of paper documents. But in the end, the most positive feedback came from the people in charge of checking the tests, because the manual verification process can be very tedious to be really sure of the authenticity of a PCR test. In fact, immigration officers would like to see our solution used more widely.

What are the next steps, and when do you expect your solution to be in widespread use?

N. F. - Discussions are underway, in particular with global technology providers in the aviation and healthcare sectors. We are also in discussions with the governments of various countries and with national airlines. We have started testing in Singapore and we will be rolling out this solution worldwide.

What will happen to your solution in a post-Covid world? Will your technology disappear with the virus?

N. F. - Unfortunately, we don't think Covid will disappear any time soon... It's going to take time. And vaccines will be required by many countries to enter their territory. Our solution can also be used for large-scale events, such as conferences... What's more, in countries that are less well organised than Singapore, our tool can be deployed more easily than other solutions, while preserving data confidentiality.

After the digital health passport, is it conceivable that the traditional passport could disappear and be replaced by a digital version?

N. F. - We can imagine it, but it will take time to get there. It's a matter for the various governments, which must be able to provide this system for their own populations, and for it to be recognised by other countries to receive travellers, so that they can be sure that this digitised passport is genuine and supplied by the State concerned. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. The work we are doing today could accelerate the transition to a world in which passports are digitised. But it is a complicated subject, because it is a key element of a country's sovereignty, and governments will not want to abandon it to a third party.