Touch Biometrix, a disruptive fingerprint technology company headquartered in
North Wales, has appointed a Chief Innovation Officer.
Rob Van Lier has joined the St Asaph-based company, which was recently recognised
as one of the Top 20 global key players in the fingerprint sensing market alongside
the likes of Apple.
Rob is the latest senior appointment to Touch Biometrix, following the recruitment
earlier this year of Eric Derckx as Chief Technology Officer.
Touch Biometrix was established by Dr Mike Cowin in 2017 with the aim of
becoming one of the top five fingerprint sensor suppliers in the world by 2023.
Dr Cowin said: “We are delighted to have been able to recruit someone of Rob’s
calibre. His is one of the world’s leading system architects for all display technologies
with a proven global track record. “Rob will play a key role for Touch Biometrix in enabling us to quickly realise our first
minimum viable product.”
An expert in thin film electronics (TFTs) design and modelling Rob was most recently
developing thin film drive electronics for Amazon. He has also previously held senior
roles in product development and engineering develop teams in San Diego for
Qualcomm MEMS Technologies. Prior to that, he worked in various system
architecture and engineering roles for Philips Mobile Display Systems.
Rob said: “I am delighted to be joining Mike and the rest of the Touch Biometrix
team at such an exciting stage in the company’s development. I look forward to
playing a key part in helping the company to develop its first minimum viable
product.”
Dr Cowin added: “We are developing technology that will disrupt the fingerprint
sensing industry and vastly improve the user authentication experience and its level
of security – completely eliminating the need for passwords when using
smartphones, computers and all manner of smart objects.”
Touch Biometrix made it on to the market forecast report for the fingerprint sensing
industry earlier this year. The report predicts the fingerprint sensor market is
expected to grow from $4.25 billion in 2018 to $8.8 billion by 2023.
The tremendous growth in fingerprint authentication technologies is being driven by
the boom in mobile payment services and the need to increase the payment
threshold for secure non-contact payment systems. Indeed, it is expected that
biometrics will be standard in 90% of mobile devices by 2020 generating 1.37 trillion
payment and non-payment mobile device transactions.
Touch Biometrix was founded in 2017 by Dr Mike Cowin with the aim of becoming
one of the top five fingerprint sensor suppliers in the world by 2023.
Based on proprietary technology and sensing algorithms, the company is developing
a range of fingerprint sensors of any shape or size for a more convenient user
experience on a wider range of products including smartphones and laptops.
Touch Biometrix’s new manufacturing model is set to disrupt the market in terms of
performance and cost, at less than $1 a unit. Fast, secure and impossible to spoof,
the company’s technology will enable widescale adoption into high, mid and low tier
consumer electronic products worldwide.
