Part 1. Biometricisation of the planet: Key market trends and upcoming plans

The world has entered 2022 with legacy issues from the previous year — such as the ongoing pandemic and the instability of many industries. Nevertheless, the biometric security systems industry continues to develop and adapt to the new conditions, and some trends in the biometrics market are also accelerating. Apart from traditional systems, many new promising areas and technologies with biometrics, such as artificial intelligence, cloud services, the internet of things and cybersecurity, are developing rapidly.

Many analysts see the current state of the biometrics industry as a period of transition — from simple security and authentication to broader activities that will extend the boundaries of protection while providing new levels of intelligence and sustainability for societies and companies.

The first part of our overview presents the actual results achieved by the global biometrics market today, as well as predictions for its future development — both in numbers and in the key areas that will form the biometrics industry and are likely have an impact on its development in 2022 and beyond.

The global biometrics market in numbers

In recent decades, tools for authorized access control have moved far away from the use of keys, pin numbers and identification cards. Now we are definitely living in the era of biometrics. The access control market is rapidly filling up with biometric authentication systems, ranging from finger and palm print recognition to facial and iris recognition.

Biometric access control systems offer inherent advantages such as increased security and efficiency with a reduction in counterfeiting. They verify authenticity within seconds or sub-seconds, and prevent unnecessary physical contact, particularly undesirable during a pandemic. Iris, palm and facial print recognition provide contactless access control, a hygiene practice that is becoming more popular with the rise of new strains of COVID-19.

According to Statista, global biometric systems market revenue was around $36.6 billion in 2020 and will reach $68.6 billion by 2025. The global biometric authentication and identification market is expected to reach $99.63 billion by 2027, showing a compound annual growth rate of 14.6 % over the period 2019—2027, according to analysts.

According to the research of the global biometric technology market and the forecast of its development for the coming years from analysts of Mordor Intelligence, the volume of the global biometrics market at the end of 2020 was estimated at $27.09 billion. The forecast of its development by 2026 (as of December 2021) was estimated at $62.52 billion, therefore, with an average annual growth of 15.2% during 2021—2026. The key driver of the development of the biometrics market, according to analysts, will be the concern of states regarding national security due to terrorist acts and the increased cases of theft of critical data and information.

Key digital identity and biometrics market trends in 2022

According to the Shufti Pro researchers, against the pandemic threat, biometric technology turned out to be the most convenient solution for security issues. They believe that secure identification, management and deployment through biometrics is the most logical and profitable way to proceed with digitalization. The specialists of the company have prepared a list of major trends in the development of biometric technology, which should be taken under consideration in 2022.

Cyberattacks in the age of artificial intelligence

Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, both in terms of identifying goals of their attacks and the tech tools they use, because machine learning and AI capabilities are becoming more prevalent in daily life.

As AI has improved the methods of criminals, they now ruthlessly and consistently attack systems on a daily basis, focusing on weak points. An example of an AI-based cyberattack is deepfake, which is used to exploit identification systems by impersonating victims' facial features. Therefore, the pace of development of these sophisticated threats will accelerate in 2022.

Identity verification systems for strengthening confidence in the sharing economy

Sharing economy platforms such as Uber, Airbnb and others are used to connect people through P2P services and use innovative ways to ensure their reliability. In 2022, people can look forward to more extensive use of identity verification systems in this sector, allowing companies to provide trusted services along with an improved customer experience.

The growing importance of confidential credentials

Limiting authentication to a certain individual is an important issue in businesses ranging from financial institutions to education centres and the sharing economy. Considering ride-sharing companies, it is difficult to ensure the legitimacy of both drivers and customers. In this context, it is quite difficult for companies to monitor drivers in order to know if registered persons are fulfilling their duties or not.

As credentials and gadgets can be freely exchanged or forcibly taken away, biometric authentication will take the lead in this area.

National regulation to stimulate innovation

Companies, as well as individuals, can expect to see significant efforts by governments in 2022 to ensure trust and confirm the legitimacy of electronic transactions and secure access to services. SaaS providers will offer innovation as new ideas, such as digital wallets and verifiable credentials, are implemented across the globe to meet new standards and accelerate the achievement of digital trust.

Unstaffed shops

The concept of unstaffed shops was formed after the worldwide disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. These shops require customers to download a mobile app, which must be scanned before entering the shop. They also have AI-enabled biometric facial recognition devices that verify customers.

The shop also has digital cameras that follow customers and record all customer actions, including the things they put in their bags. Many pilot shops without staff are already open, but they are still in the testing phase. However, 2022 will be the year when such shops become commonplace.

Travel industry

Contactless solutions are used by transit networks around the globe to create a safer environment for passengers on buses, trains and airports. Because of COVID-19, public transport and activities have become a source of potential risk for people, and service providers have a good understanding that they will face new challenges in maintaining and creating confidence, as well as increasing passenger numbers.

Biometric technology solutions are finding their way in business for creating a safer travelling environment, starting from mask compliance to disinfection efforts.

Systems of continuous biometric authentication

Real-time biometric authentication systems reduce the risk of criminal activity, such as hacking or database breaches. As the concept of zero-trust becomes the standard in the cyber security sector, many technology analysts predict that biometric technologies will often be incorporated into the continuous authentication process. With high security capabilities, businesses and individuals both prefer biometric solutions for authentication rather than relying on regular passwords.

For example, in modern cars, the doors automatically lock and the car does not start if a person walks away from a particular car with the key in his pocket. However, as soon as the user returns, the car unlocks. However, this innovation has loopholes that can be easily manipulated. But biometric technology, such as facial recognition, can be integrated into the key to ensure security.

Behavioural biometrics

This type of biometrics considers a person's behavior. Behavioral biometrics solutions are used to identify individuals by examining the actions of their users, such as key-press dynamics, signature verification, voice recognition, gesture recognition and others. In this system, the biometric system checks the user's behavior against a profile constructed from a large number of physiological, cognitive and contextual features.

At the moment, this area of biometric technology is still at an initial stage of development. Nevertheless, high expectations are placed on it, because such technologies are expected to improve the data security of various end-users, which will help to create beneficial opportunities for the expansion of the biometric technology market in the near future.

Allied Market Research (AMR) believes that the main deployment models for behavioral biometrics will be both local and cloud-based services, with the greatest use of these technologies in applications for identity verification, continuous authentication, risk management and compliance, and fraud detection and prevention. The main consumer pool for behavioural biometrics is industry verticals such as BFSI, retail, electronic commerce, healthcare, government and public sector, IT and telecom.

According to AMR, the global market for behavioural biometrics was valued of $720.5 million in 2017. The market for such technologies is predicted to reach $3.9 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 23.71% between 2018 and 2025.

Biometrics in the cloud

The development of cloud technology has gone simultaneously with the evolution of biometric identification. Cloud-based biometric solutions aim to integrate multiple segments into systems that can meet customer requirements without being limited to security issues. Thus, combining cloud services with biometric technologies, SaaS-class solutions will create multi-factor authentication solutions that will effectively prevent identity theft and information loss in the coming years.

Multimodal authentication

Biometric solutions are becoming increasingly sophisticated as advanced technology emerges. Multimodal biometric verification can provide an additional layer of security for digital businesses. With the rise of fraud attacks, biometric anti-counterfeiting technologies are being developed to help detect instances of falsification.

Second part

The second part of the overview will focus on an under-detailed analysis of the main segments of the global biometrics market and the main aspects of its transformation against the context of the increasing digitalization of most industries in the global economy.