Nestled between large countries such as India, China and Russi | Orwellian Dystopia

Nestled between large countries such as India, China and Russia, Central Asia has long suffered from poor connections — both physically and digitally. But over the past years, the region has been investing in its digital infrastructure, including its biometric industry with startups now expanding across the world.

A big impetus for this was the COVID-19 pandemic which hastened the introduction of digital services. But the region is also seeing attention rise for domestic products after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Central Asia used to be the default market for Russian companies, including facial recognition firms such as VisionLabs or Ntechlab, says Uakhat Bastimiyev, co-founder of Kazakhstani biometric verification provider Verigram.

“In our region, we have a big impact from companies from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia because we are near them and historically, we’re ex-USSR countries,” he says.

The regional leader is Kazakhstan which ranks 28th in the UN E-Government Survey 2022 with the highest EGDI (E-Government Development Index) values. The country aims to be among the top 30 developed countries in the world by 2050.

“As a country, we’re pouring a lot of money into so-called e-government,” says Bastimiyev.

Biometric technologies have also become widespread in the banking sector. With the help of the business sector, the country has moved towards a cashless economy, with more than 74 percent of transactions now being cashless.

https://www.biometricupdate.com/202305/from-central-asia-to-the-world-digitalization-drive-pushes-new-biometric-startups