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The Argentine subsidiary of Japanese IT giant NEC Corporation is joining forces with NGO Bitcoin Argentina and IDB Lab, the Innovation Laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, to deploy a blockchain-based ID system in Buenos Aires.
The lack of information on the identity and behavior of those living below the poverty line obstructs their easy access to certain goods and services – it either prevents the market from including them or includes them at a much higher cost than for the average population.
In order to address these challenges, the project partners will work together to provide blockchain-based digital IDs to all residents. The technology will allow reliable and safe registration of information of an individual's activities, while ensuring privacy and allowing them to control their own data.
The digital ID system will be developed for the Inclusion Project, which aims to improve the access to quality goods and services for inhabitants of Buenos Aires through a portable, safe, transparent and self-sovereign digital identity. It will provide unbanked individuals with a digital wallet, which will facilitate access to financial services, such as storing digital money, and making payments, transfers, and remittances while building a transaction history.
"By consolidating trustworthy, accessible, and relevant digital identities, the project ultimately aims to increase access to goods and services for the residents of vulnerable neighborhoods, thus allowing them to improve their opportunities for socioeconomic inclusion in the fourth industrial revolution," said Erika Molina, Project Team Leader at IDB Lab.
The project has a duration of four years and will be initially introduced in Barrio 31 with plans to be expanded to two other economically vulnerable neighborhoods in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires.
NEC Argentina is joining the project as the main technological partner and will be contributing directly to the development of the digital identity solution. It will also be responsible for the solution’s integration into third-party projects.
"NEC, as a social value provider, is pleased to collaborate and support initiatives for social inclusion around the world through the application and integration of innovative technologies, such as Blockchain and Biometrics, that will enable a safe, secure, efficient and equal society," said Jorge Vargas, Head of RCoC NEC Latin America.
