Hitachi x Panasonic Connect, Global Expansion｜Collaboration in biometric encryption technology PBI and the world's No. 1 face recognition technology!

Collaboration for global deployment and acceleration of biometrics

(Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Keiji Kojima; "Hitachi") and Panasonic Connect Corporation (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuyuki Higuchi; "Panasonic Connect") have started collaboration to develop and accelerate global deployment of biometric authentication. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuyuki Higuchi; hereinafter referred to as "Panasonic Connect") will start collaboration to accelerate global deployment of biometric authentication.

Specifically, we will create a new service that further pursues safe, secure, and comfortable biometric authentication by combining PBI (Public Biometric Infrastructure), a public biometric authentication infrastructure that uses Hitachi's patented technology to encrypt biometric information, with Panasonic Connect's world's No. 1*1 face recognition technology. Panasonic Connect's world-leading*1 face recognition technology will be combined with PBI (Public Biometric Infrastructure), a biometric authentication platform.

The two companies will continue to study and verify technologies for collaboration, and work together to develop and demonstrate use cases for social implementation in a variety of fields, including daily life and business.

As a first step, a demonstration using travel as an example will be implemented starting this spring. We will conduct a nationwide "empty-handed stamp rally" demonstration using facial recognition at retail stores, and start a campaign in which customers can earn points for facial recognition when they visit a store.

Background of Collaboration

In the biometric authentication market, demand for face recognition, which enables contactless, hands-free, and smooth operation, is expected to grow rapidly in a variety of industrial fields in response to the spread of new coronavirus infection. On the other hand, the management of biometric information is a bottleneck, and ensuring a high level of reliability is essential for its introduction, utilization, and diffusion.

Hitachi provides a "biometric authentication integrated infrastructure service" that enables integrated management and operation of any authentication modality (finger vein, face, iris, etc.) and any authentication terminal, based on strict identity authentication using PBI, a proprietary technology that encrypts biometric information into an unrecoverable form, in accordance with various usage scenarios and operational formats. The service has been widely applied to restaurant settlements, golf course reception and point linkage, identification of vaccination certificates, and the use and settlement of digital regional gift certificates.

Panasonic Connect has been used in a wide variety of applications, such as strict and smooth identification at airports, ticketless entry and exit at events, cashless payment at stores, and cardless entry and exit at facilities and offices. The system has been used in a variety of ways, including strict and smooth identification at airports, ticketless entry and exit at events, cashless payment at stores, and cardless entry and exit at facilities and offices.
Through this collaboration, Hitachi and Panasonic Connect are able to solve this issue by providing highly reliable and comfortable face recognition.

In addition, Hitachi and Panasonic Connect are focusing on open innovation to create new value in collaboration with various stakeholders to realize a better society and a sustainable future. By combining the strengths that both companies have cultivated over the years, we will work to create new services that will lead the rapidly growing biometric authentication market on a global scale.

Details of Cooperation

1. technical study and verification for the integration of Hitachi's PBI and Panasonic Connect's face recognition technology
Hitachi's PBI is a secure authentication and encryption technology that reduces unauthorized use by third parties, such as loss or unauthorized transfer, compared to IC cards, PINs, and two-dimensional bar codes.
In addition, Panasonic Connect's face recognition system is easy to register facial images and can be used comfortably and hands-free. By integrating these features, we will develop and implement a system by studying and verifying technologies to achieve more secure, safe, and comfortable face recognition.
Specifically, we will develop and implement a series of processes that extract facial features obtained through Panasonic Connect's face recognition, convert the facial information into a form that cannot be restored based on Hitachi's PBI, and store and match the information.

2. development and demonstration of use cases for various fields such as daily life and business
By collaborating on the development and demonstration of use cases in various fields of daily life and business, such as shopping, entertainment, and medical care, we will pursue further comfort for users and improve and enhance our services.
This spring, we plan to conduct a "hand-in-hand stamp rally" demonstration that will realize smart point giving at the time of store visits at retail outlets that operate on a nationwide scale, with travel as a possible usage scenario. We plan to demonstrate the effectiveness of this new marketing measure in the retail industry.

The future of each company

Through the collaboration, Hitachi will support Panasonic Connect's face recognition as one of the authentication modalities of the "Biometric Authentication Integrated Infrastructure Service," providing easier enrollment and more comfortable face recognition through access from a web browser such as a smartphone.
In addition, together with our partners, we will continue to develop and provide services related to biometrics, such as finger vein, face, and iris authentication, that meet the needs of the market. In addition, we will work to create new value by expanding the application of biometric authentication in various industries based on the solutions and know-how of Lumada*3, which accelerates digital solutions, including our proprietary PBI technology.

As one of the "Face Recognition Solutions" to be deployed at partner companies through the collaboration, Panasonic Connect will support the management of facial information using an unrecoverable encryption method on Hitachi's "Biometric Identification Integrated Platform Service," and will help to prevent the loss of IC cards, etc., or their delivery to other parties, or their unauthorized use by third parties, as well as the management of spaces and information that handles confidential information. This will enable the introduction of biometric authentication to industries and organizations that have been considering biometric authentication for situations such as countermeasures against unauthorized use by third parties such as the loss or passing on of IC cards to others, and countermeasures for managing spaces that handle confidential information and the information itself.

Both companies will lead the biometric authentication market and contribute to the realization of a safe, secure, and comfortable society and a sustainable future.

<Notes.
*1 In the NIST (FRVT 1:1) aging evaluation on November 6, 2022, we ranked first in the world for Mugshot (frontal face data including race and aging changes, stranger acceptance rate: 1:100,000). At the same time, it was ranked 4th in the world for Border (data including face orientation and lighting variation, stranger acceptance rate: 1:100,000), and 5th in the world for KIOSK (data including face down and out of view, stranger acceptance rate: 1:100,000), achieving the world's highest level of evaluation results.
*2 Based on Panasonic Connect research.
*3 Lumada: A generic name for solutions, services, and technologies that leverage Hitachi's advanced digital technologies to create value from customer data and accelerate digital innovation. https://www.hitachi.co.jp/lumada/

About Hitachi's PBI

PBI is an authentication infrastructure technology developed by Hitachi that combines biometrics and PKI*, a technology that enables secure Internet communications.

At the time of initial user registration, a unidirectional conversion is performed to convert the user's biometric information into a form that cannot be recovered, and a public key is created to be stored in the cloud.
After user registration, when authenticating a person or making a payment, a private key that only the person himself/herself possesses is created at the biometric authentication terminal, and is checked against the public key that is the counterpart of the private key. Since the private key cannot be recreated using any other biometric information than the user's own, no one else can impersonate the user. The private key is created and used only for authentication and payment, after converting the biometric information into a form that cannot be recovered, and is then immediately destroyed and not stored in the system.

Through this mechanism, even if public key information in the cloud is compromised, there is no risk of recovering biometric information or information about the user's characteristics. This ensures security even in the event that public key information is compromised by a malicious insider, which is the main cause of information leakage.

PKI: Public key infrastructure. A technology for securely operating public key cryptography and digital signatures in communications over the Internet.

▼Hitachi's Biometric Authentication with PBI
https://www.hitachi.co.jp/finance/innovation/pbi/index.html

About Panasonic Connect's Face Recognition Technology

Panasonic Connect's face recognition technology has been evaluated as the world's best in the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) face recognition benchmark test (NIST FRVT 1:1) by utilizing image clarification technology cultivated through over 40 years of camera image processing and deep learning technology to learn facial features. The system has been evaluated as the world's best in the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) face recognition benchmark test (NIST FRVT 1:1).

The system is not easily affected by facial orientation, changes over time, glasses, masks, etc., and can be used comfortably. Systems based on face recognition technology have been deployed in such applications as strict and smooth identification at airports, ticketless entry and exit at amusement parks, cashless payment at stores, and IC cardless entry and exit at offices, achieving unique face recognition over 100,000 times a day (according to Panasonic Connect survey).

We will continue to contribute to making various workplaces safer, more secure, and more efficient by combining our world-class facial recognition technology with UX design, which we have achieved through a series of field trials in pursuit of ease of use in the field.

▼ Panasonic Connect's Face Recognition Solution
https://connect.panasonic.com/jp-ja/solutions/facial-recognition

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi is promoting the Social Innovation Business, which uses data and technology to realize a sustainable society.
The "Digital Systems & Services" business unit provides IT services for the financial, government, municipal, and telecommunications sectors and DX support for customers; the "Green Energy & Mobility" business unit contributes to the realization of a decarbonized society through energy and rail services; the "Connected Industries" business unit digitally connects products in a wide range of fields, including industrial distribution, water infrastructure, healthcare, home appliances, air conditioning systems, measurement and analysis systems, and building systems. Connective Industries," which digitally connects products in a wide range of fields, including industrial distribution, water infrastructure, healthcare, home appliances, air conditioning systems, measurement and analysis systems, and building systems, and Automotive Systems, which provides advanced technologies in the automotive and motorcycle fields. We are committed to solving the challenges of customers and society through Lumada solutions that utilize IT, OT (control and operation technology) and products.

Driven by green, digital, and innovation, we aim to grow through collaborative creation, with consolidated sales revenue of 10,264.6 billion yen in fiscal year 2021 (ending March 31, 2022), 853 consolidated subsidiaries, and approximately 370,000 employees worldwide as of March 31, 2022.

About Panasonic Connect Corporation

Panasonic Connect Corporation was established on April 1, 2022 as part of the Panasonic Group's transition to an operating company structure, and is the core operating company for B2B solutions.
The company employs approximately 28,500 people globally and generates 924.9 billion yen* in sales.

With "From the field, moving society and connecting it to the future" as our Purpose (our raison d'etre as a company), we are working to innovate the "field" by connecting customers in the supply chain, public services, lifestyle infrastructure, and entertainment fields through the provision of highly differentiated hardware and solutions that combine 100 years of manufacturing industry knowledge and software. We are committed to connecting customers in the supply chain, public services, lifestyle infrastructure, and entertainment fields, and to innovating the "field".

We also aim to realize "sustainability," a prosperous society and planet where people and nature can coexist in harmony, and "wellbeing," where each individual can feel fulfilled in life and live a safe, secure, and happy life.
Sales of the former Panasonic Corporation Connected Solutions, Inc. in FY2021