(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The Unique Identification Authority of India on Friday launched the Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA) to foster innovation and collaboration in the digital identity domain.

The scheme is a collaboration among startups, academia, and industry in the digital identity sector to strengthen India's ID tech ecosystem. The applications for the pilot programme of SITAA will remain open until November 15, an official statement said.

"The pilot will have few initial challenges specifically suitable for academic institutions, startups, and industry partners. All entities that meet the eligibility criteria and provide innovative solutions are encouraged to apply to this programme," the release said.

The initiative focuses on co-developing secure, scalable, and indigenous identity technologies across biometric devices, authentication frameworks, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and secure identity applications.

The MeitY Startup Hub and NASSCOM have signed MOUs with the UIDAI to serve as strategic partners. They will provide technical mentoring, incubation, accelerator support, industry connections, and global outreach for SITAA.

The release said that the SITAA programme aligns with the national priorities of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital Public Infrastructure, ensuring a pipeline of secure, scalable, and future-ready identity solutions.

The pilot focuses on challenges related to face liveness detection, presentation attack detection, and contactless fingerprint authentication

The challenge related to face liveness detection invites startups to develop Software Development Kits (SDKs) to prevent spoofing from various sources and work across UIDAI's enrollment and authentication systems, among other criteria.

The pilot also invited proposals from academic and research institutions to develop advanced Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) solutions that strengthen Aadhaar's face-based authentication ecosystem.

Proposals are also invited to develop SDKs for contactless fingerprint authentication using standard smartphone cameras or low-cost imaging devices, the release noted.

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