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IDEMIA extends R&D footprint in Australia; Canberra incubation lab to support quantitative immunity testing for Covid-19 through partnership with Orbis Diagnostics
IDEMIA has announced the extension of its R&D and innovation efforts in Australia and New Zealand with the use of its Canberra Incubation Lab to support quantitative immunity testing conducted by Orbis Diagnostics.
Orbis Diagnostics, a New Zealand-based immunity-detection company will supply an immunity screening platform, allowing for rapid testing and quantifying of a travelers’ level of immunity against COVID-19 with high accuracy. The combination of Orbis’ innovative screening procedures paired with border control processes is being explored to accelerate the safe reopening of regional and international borders.
“Now that the world readies itself to deploy the first-generation COVID-19 vaccines, we expect immunity screening to become a crucial element of the complete solution supporting the safe resumption of international travel,” said Xavier Assouad, Managing Director of Oceania in IDEMIA.
With IDEMIA’s global expertise in Border Risk Management, Passenger Flow Facilitation and Digital Identity, paired with Orbis’ scientific, expert medical diagnostics and research team, both firms will work closely with governments and border control agencies to jointly address the pressing problems of health checks at international airports. This immunity screening platform is likely to be first introduced to Australian and New Zealand airports as early as mid-2021, before a wider release to the Asia Pacific region.
“One of our missions at IDEMIA is to actively seek out innovation and to bring ideas to airports and border control agencies on the integration of immigration, security, safety and health checks as part of a streamlined passenger journey,” said Mr Assouad. “As part of the innovation process, we are exploring an integration of the Orbis solution with IDEMIA’s Mobile ID and border control platform, notably for risk assessment purposes. This would reduce the probability of fraudulent immunity certification and enable trusted results to be shared with border agencies using the ICAO-defined Digital Sealing IDEMIA provides. IDEMIA aims to provide a global response and explore the integration with IDEMIA’s passenger flow facilitation platform, in order to provide a seamless, end to end solution covering all steps of the journey at both departure and arrival.”
CEO of Orbis Diagnostics, Brent Ogilvie, said “Accurately testing whether a traveler is immune to COVID-19 will determine whether they are safe to enter their country of destination without quarantining, and without fear of infecting others or being infected themselves. This platform has been designed specifically for high-volume and non-laboratory environments, such as airports. The process is fast, and once a person’s immunity has been accurately determined, they could bypass quarantine with the assurance there is no substantial risk of causing a fresh outbreak.”
“IDEMIA is a global leader in providing secure and trusted environments for people as they move around the world. We’re thrilled to be partnering with them to take this ground-breaking technology and transform it into an integrated high-tech solution that can be deployed at the borders,” said Mr. Ogilvie.
