Increasing Digital Connectivity for the Poor

Focus Area: Poverty
Commitment By: WISeKey
Partner: International Organization for Secure Transactions (OISTE); Microsoft Corporation
First Year Cost: $20,000,000
Total Estimated Value: $1,000,000,000
Commitment Duration: 10 years

Objective:

To reduce the gap between the new Digital Identification Divide in less developed countries and emerging economies by creating the infrastructure that will make a de-facto global digital identity community of 1 billion digital identity users while providing equitable and meaningful access to digital information technology.

Commitment Announcement:

WISeKey is committed to providing the necessary identity management and transaction platform to enable a new approach of cash flow management to reduce operations costs, intermediaries and other sources which result in the loss of aid, remittances and micro-credit initiatives, as well as to increase the awareness and control capability of those providing the funds. WISeKey and the OISTE Foundation developed for this commitment the NETeID Social Network. The NETeID System was designed as a set of online tools intended to empower poor and excluded people around the world to access via their digital identities different sources of assistances and interventions. The system is designed to constitute a global social network that pulls data from all tools into one easy-to-manage web interface which will include a combination of digital identity, security, privacy, web access, blogging and remittances services. Enabling the poor to access the NETeID Social Network may bring them information and services to empower them to become confident, productive members of a healthy society.

WISeKey, in cooperation with the International Organization for Secure Transactions Foundation (OISTE.org), will be providing a Digital Identification Infrastructure designed to support a network of 20,000 Identification Authorities worldwide with the objective to issue a billion digital identities. Each of these 20,000 Identification Authorities operating from 189 countries will be authorized to issue Digital Identities locally.

Background:

I. During the 2006 World Summit on the Information Society, WISeKey, with partner Microsoft, worked to expand the use of Digital Identification with the aim of increasing digital connectivity and secure transaction services. The partners aim to include 1 billion users by 2015.

II. In response to the loss of funds from donors to intended recipients due to intermediaries and the lack of a secured electronic transaction system, the creation of a Digital Committed Aid Check (DCAC) allows the funds provider to have its donation go toward a pre-stated and specific purpose. If the conditions of the donation are not fulfilled (project start, specific recipient, etc.) the fund provider has the ability to cancel the check at any of its different states: requested, issued, assigned and cashed. Otherwise, the check can be cashed when the stated conditions have been met. This scenario is also appropriate when a direct trust is established, as in the case of remittance where few or zero intermediaries exist.
It should be noted that the objective is not to radically change the global aid framework, as the current structure of a "two way street" between the fund consolidators on one side and the funds distributors on the other, is still useful and relevant. The local funds collectors, NGOs and governments do play an important role, notably for the pre-approval, post-control, consolidation and assignment phases.

III. The NETeID system was designed as a Social Network tool that allows for citizen worldwide to connect with one another, and to different sources of interventions. With few exceptions, the scope of the interventions is defined at three levels: local, national and global. At the local level (the village, district, or in some cases the urban level) the NETeID system will provide citizens holding a digital identification with information about, for instance, basic social services, such as financial aid, health and education. At the national level the Digital Identification will bring the citizens more complex Web Services that carry information about jobs, investment opportunities or goods and services. Finally, at the broadest level, the NETeID System will inter connect to the global information infrastructure provided by agencies providing poverty alleviation services and will federate participating agencies into a global Federated System using Single Sign On technologies to allow citizens to access all these services from a single entry point via a Generic Poverty Alleviation Portal. Each higher level usually includes elements of the preceding levels.

The NETeID is designed in a way that handles all types of interventions simultaneously via a dashboard, with those that directly benefit the poor coming in first. This usually happens at the local level and the impact is always more visible. The NETeID system also considers a broader definition of poverty, where poverty is also defined as being deprived of the information and basic services needed to participate in the 'global' society. WISekey and OISTE are working with International Organizations, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGOs that have been implementing these services. The NETeID system also processes indirect intervention where the benefits of Digital Identification and remittances are felt upstream from the poor, but may trickle down through the social-economic fabric. The third type of intervention is using Digital Identities and related Citizen Portals in support of poverty reduction mechanisms and related development projects. Crosscutting areas in poverty management can be greatly aided by introducing the type of technology available at the NETeID system.

Metrics:
The success of the project will be measured by the number of eID's issued by the pre-determined identification authorities, and the amount of funds transmitted using this new technological platform.

Point of Contact:

Carlos Moreira, Founder & CEO, WISeKey

Geographic Scope:

Global

Anticipated Launch:

11/1/2006

Milestones and Key Actions:

September – December 2006:

· Designed the NETeID system as a Social Network tool that allows for citizens worldwide to connect with one another, and to different sources of interventions such as aid, remittances and micro-credit initiatives.
· Partnered with Microsoft to expand the use of Digital Identification with the aim of increasing digital connectivity and secure transaction services during the 2006 World Summit on the Information Society. The aim is to include 1 billion users by 2015.

Partnership Opportunities:

To increase the success of the digital identification deployment, WISeKey would be willing to work with financial institutions and donor agencies to facilitate micro-remittances from donor to recipient using chip to chip transactions. Additionally, WISeKey would like to collaborate with partners on the workflow management application development, and the financial transaction services.