WEF Trials Blockchain in Bid to Boost Air Travel Security

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is working with the Canadian and Dutch governments to pilot a digital identity project that focuses in part on blockchain.

The Known Traveller Digital Identity initiative is aimed at using technologies like blockchain and biometrics to improve the security around international air travel. A prototype, developed in collaboration with professional services firm Accenture, was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The idea behind the concept is to provide travelers with greater control over their identifying information by eliminating the need for a central database. Travelers would rather rely on a "permission-based distributed ledger" that would allow for the transfer of information about a traveler's background and where they've gone to, for example.