Its utility is expanding as a technology for identifying or authenticating individuals based on physical characteristics.

MIT Technology Review, a technology magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), announced 10 innovative technologies to watch in 2017. One of them is facial recognition payment technology (Paying with Your Face).

MIT Technology Review reported that China is a leader in facial recognition technology, which is attracting attention as a next-generation biometric technology. China stated that it can already use facial recognition to distinguish people entering buildings, track criminals, and even make payments.

The development of facial recognition technology in China is driven by government surveillance. Face++, a Chinese startup, distinguishes differences in captured faces using 83 dots. This technology is being applied across banking, retail, and transportation services. The mobile payment app Alipay allows users to authenticate via face to send or transfer money. Furthermore, Didi Chuxing, a ride-sharing company often referred to as China's Uber, utilizes Face++'s software to enable passengers to verify if a driver is legitimate. During the authentication process, users must move their faces to prevent photo-based deception.

In Korea as well, following the application of fingerprint recognition to smartphones, the introduction of iris recognition in the Galaxy Note 7 became a hot topic for a time. As the adoption of biometrics in real life accelerates, in which fields is it currently being applied?

Dr. Hyo-Seok Lee of Neofect, who served as a presenter at the 'Workshop on Biometric Technology Using Wearable Devices' hosted by the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers on the 14th, stated, “Healthcare is a field with its own distinct characteristics. The same goes for wearables and biometric technology. It is not easy to combine these three,” and suggested the direction in which biometric technology can advance in the healthcare sector using wearable devices.

Biometrics refers to a technology that identifies or authenticates individuals by extracting physical characteristics such as fingerprints, irises, retinas, veins, and faces, as well as behavioral characteristics such as voice, handwriting, gait, and body shape, using automated devices. Identification involves finding one person out of many, while authentication involves verifying whether something is correct based on existing information; thus, the two are distinguished.

Dr. Lee stated, “Since wearables are worn at all times, a vast amount of biometric information can be obtained.” He added, “I believe we should move forward in a direction that encompasses all technologies for authenticating signals, rather than using that vast amount of information solely for authentication purposes.”

Wearables that assist patients' rehabilitation and share biometric information

In the healthcare sector, biometric authentication, which was previously used only for employee authentication, is moving in the direction of being used to authenticate patients. To do so, collecting diverse medical information and continuously gathering and maintaining data for each patient presents the issue of authentication regarding whether the patient is the same person. There are also privacy issues.

Now, biometrics is moving beyond simply identifying a person using biometric information in mobile healthcare and medical monitoring to utilizing that person's medical information. In other words, biometrics, wearables, and healthcare are combining.

Neofect's 'Raphael' is a case in point. The Raphael Smart Glove assists in the rehabilitation of patients suffering from paralysis caused by stroke. It is a technology based on 'brain plasticity,' which allows other brain cells to take over the function of parts of the brain even if they have died, through rehabilitation therapy. Patients wear the Raphael Smart Glove and connect to an app via Bluetooth to train by repeatedly performing movements similar to real-life actions through games. A cloud service is currently under development to enable patients, medical staff, and caregivers to share the patient's training data.


At CES 2017 held at the beginning of the year, products that store biometric information using wearable devices and apply it to healthcare also attracted attention.

Rotex has unveiled a biometric therapeutic electronic tattoo. The electronic tattoo is a biometric sensor as thin and light as a hair that can be attached to a user's skin to analyze body temperature, respiration, and more. Proteus's Proteus Discover is an ingestible sensor that enables the monitoring of health patterns and drug treatment effectiveness for patients with hypertension or diabetes. 2breathe by 2breathe Technologies measures respiration when worn around the waist while sleeping to guide users toward breathing optimal for sleep. It is a device designed to reduce blood pressure and stress, helping users maintain regular sleep patterns. MOTIV showcased a ring-shaped device, moving away from the traditional bracelet form factor. By reducing the device's size to improve comfort, it added convenience through waterproofing and extended battery life.

Dr. Lee of Neofect expressed his expectations, stating, “There are no accuracy standards for medical device certification, and in Korea, medical information cannot be released from hospitals. Therefore, we are currently collecting basic patient data, but in the future, we will be able to predict diseases through lifestyle habits obtained via wearable devices.”