Gemalto-led e-passport research project wins European Innovation Award

​Amsterdam, January 18, 2016 - Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announces that the NewP@ss research project consortium¹ that it leads has won the Most Innovative Project award at the 2015 European Nanoelectronics Forum. The jury recognized its work on a new generation of e-Passports and associated e-services that will dramatically improve security and convenience for travelers. The NewP@ss innovation project embodies ICAO's vision for international travel. 

Gemalto is international co-ordinator for the consortium, which encompasses 15 European enterprises and research institutions within the Eureka program CATRENE. This transnational, business-driven development project is focused on far-reaching innovations for the e-passport market now extending to 120 issuing countries worldwide. 

The NewP@ss team's ambitious program is turning e-passports into advanced 'smart objects' that can incorporate electronic visas and stamps. If the holder's details change, it will also be possible to seamlessly update an existing passport, rather than having to issue a replacement. Furthermore, next generation e-passports can be read up to 8 times faster than current documents, making international border crossing quicker and more secure. 

"This award highlights a successful co-operative European Research & Development program led by Gemalto," said Youzec Kurp, Vice President of Government Programs at Gemalto. "With full commitment to security, interoperability and particular focus on performance, the NewP@ss project is paving the way to the next generation of electronic Passport. This new document is aimed at securing citizen's identity and addressing the challenge of immigration and border control while ensuring sustainability of Government's investments". 

¹ CEA-Leti (France); Compuworx Corporation (Hungary); Evoleo Technologies (Portugal); Gemalto (France – project coordinator); Giesecke & Devrient (Germany); Graz University of Technology (Austria); ID3 Technologies (France); Infineon Technologies (Austria, Germany); Instituto de Telecomunicacoes (Portugal); ISEN-Toulon (France), NXP Semiconductors (Austria, France, Germany); STMicroelectronics (France).

​​​​​About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security, with 2014 annual revenues of €2.5 billion and blue-chip customers in over 180 countries.

Gemalto helps people trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world. Billions of people want better lifestyles, smarter living environments, and the freedom to communicate, shop, travel, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. In this fast moving mobile and digital environment, we enable companies and administrations to offer a wide range of trusted and convenient services by securing financial transactions, mobile services, public and private clouds, eHealthcare systems, access to eGovernment services, the Internet and internet-of-things and transport ticketing systems.

Gemalto’s unique technology portfolio - from advanced cryptographic software embedded in a variety of familiar objects, to highly robust and scalable back-office platforms for authentication, encryption and digital credential management - is delivered by our world-class service teams. ​Our 14,000 employees operate out of 99 offices, 34 personalization and data centers, and 24 research and software development centers located in 46 countries.​

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter. ​

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