VoxGen Receives U.K. Government Grant to Develop Voice Biometrics

VoxGen, a provider of self-service automation solutions, has been awarded a grant of £300,000 ($481,000) from the U.K. Technology Strategy Board to research, develop, and enhance voice biometrics to support consumer identification and verification technologies.

VoxGen will be working with its consortium partners, Mydex Data Services and Latitude Partners, to enhance the traditional approach to voice biometrics by adding a second factor to the verification process; personal knowledge. VoxGen will develop a statistically rigorous probabilistic reasoning system to combine these two incongruent data points.

To ensure that the technological advancements from the project build both competitive advantage in the future and are exploited by business and organizations, all developments are rigorously tested in real-world scenarios with real-life users, throughout the creation process. This research determines which types of enhancements work best for government/community service users and for online retail consumers.

The grant is part of a joint investment of £8.5 million by the Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in 30 innovative research and development projects that will help accelerate the introduction of more secure and trustworthy information systems. The investment will also help to create competitive advantages for businesses through building a strong capability base in the United Kingdom.

“Consumers increasingly want reassurance from organizations that their personal data is secure. For the private and public sector alike, it’s now an economic imperative to have the technological capabilities to identify and verify consumers quickly, conveniently and, most importantly, securely," said Pierce Buckley, head of product at VoxGen. "Our consortium brings together three of the industry's leading companies in the field of voice biometrics and data security. Together our complementary knowledge, competencies, and expertise give us a really exciting opportunity to deliver some ground-breaking innovation in the field of consumer verification.”