NEC Corporation has once again secured the top position in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE), achieving the highest global accuracy rating in the 1:N Identification test. NEC’s face recognition algorithm recorded an authentication error rate of just 0.07 percent—equivalent to an accuracy rate of 99.88 percent—when tested against a database of 12 million individuals.
The evaluation continues a 15-year trend of NEC leadership in biometric performance, with the company also ranking first in NIST’s aging tests. These assess the ability to match images taken more than 10 and 12 years apart, demonstrating NEC’s outstanding ability to maintain accuracy despite time-induced changes in facial features.
NEC’s face recognition technology is already in operation across more than 50 countries, including at over 80 airports worldwide. Its applications extend far beyond transportation: the technology is used in immigration control, boarding procedures, customs declarations, hotel check-ins, banking services, government buildings, and even theme parks. These real-world environments have validated NEC’s ability to deliver high-speed, high-accuracy performance—processing up to 100 individuals per minute even under challenging conditions such as poor lighting or facial concealment.
NEC plans to deploy this technology at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan—the largest biometric implementation of its kind in the country. Over 1.2 million registered users will utilize facial recognition for admission control and cashless payments. The deployment will showcase NEC’s “Digital ID VCs Connect” platform, which integrates decentralized identity (DID) solutions and verifiable credentials (VCs), marking a significant step forward in secure and user-controlled personal information management.
The company emphasized its continued commitment to innovation and user privacy in a statement: “NEC will continue to focus on replacing physical identity verification methods and physical security, while accelerating the development and provision of solutions that can be adapted to new use cases in an ever-growing digital society.”
NEC’s technology is designed with advanced privacy and security features, including encrypted template storage, privacy-by-design architecture, and compliance with global data protection regulations. Its algorithms are capable of matching faces from images as small as 24 pixels and remain effective under motion, partial concealment, or poor image quality—factors that are typically challenging for facial recognition systems.
In addition to topping NIST’s general FRTE rankings, NEC ranked first or second in nearly all specialized categories, including border kiosk, mugshot, and visa photo tests. These results further affirm its leadership in the field and align with the company’s broader mission to contribute to international biometric standards and best practices.
NEC’s global influence in the biometrics industry has also been recognized through industry accolades, including the Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Biometrics Company of the Year award, highlighting its role in shaping the future of identity verification worldwide.
Sources: Electronics Media, NEC Press Release
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April 9, 2025 – by the ID Tech Editorial Team
