United States Facial Recognition Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The United States Facial Recognition Market is expected to reach a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period (2021 - 2026). The United States is expected to hold a prominent share in the facial recognition market owing to lucrative opportunities in the region, exhibiting a massive demand for facial recognition technology for homeland security and criminal investigation.​

Key Highlights

• Government initiatives are expected to contribute to the double-digit growth of such technologies. For instance, the US government has plans to reshape airport security through facial recognition, to register and identify the visitors. Additionally, several North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) member banks have mandated the use of facial and voice recognition technologies for online identity verification. Companies have also been collaborating with federal governments to implement the technology for their surveillance and identity management. ​
• Apart from the government, United States companies are also taking advantage of this facial recognition technology. For instance, IntelliVision launched a new version of its facial recognition technology as a cloud service. Face recognition as a Service (FRaaS) offers to match in less than a second and provides analytical capacity when on-camera processing is not enough. Such developments are increasing the applicability of facial recognition in complex business scenarios, thus contributing to the growth of the market.
• As a mass solution, facial recognition is yet to gain increased market penetration, as it has been facing intense competition from fingerprint recognition, voice and Speech recognition, and numerous forms of eye recognition. ​Enterprises in the market are investing in companies that are operating in the facial recognition space for gaining access to the market. For example, Fico acquired EZCOM and launched new biometric identity solutions to offer better digital security to its customers. Over the coming years, such developments are expected to increase even further.
• The coronavirus pandemic is creating a lucrative market for facial recognition manufacturers. But privacy issues are expected to hinder the growth of the market. Facial recognition technology is being adopted in the United States as a way to track the virus' spread. Also, facial recognition is used as a alternative solution to biometric identification to curb the spread of the virus. For instance, recently, the New York Police Department restrained the use of fingerprint ID entry security procedure by employees. Such developments creating demand for facial recognition companies to step in and market their services as identification alternatives. As a result, facial-recognition companies are focusing on customizing their solutions so that they are better equipped to track citizens who may test positive for coronavirus.

Key Market Trends

Increasing Demand for Surveillance Systems to Enhance Safety and Security​

• The demand for surveillance as part of access control is on the rise in the private sector, the level of authentication offered by facial recognition in the space is driving the demand. Enterprises are using technology as a means to ensure only authorized individuals get into facilities such as bank vaults, training centers, board rooms, server rooms, and other sensitive locations.​
• Moreover, the most significant facial recognition surveillance system in the region is operated by the FBI. The FBI’s ID system maintains a facial recognition database with images of more than 117 million Americans. The FBI conducts, on average, 4,055 searches every month to identify individuals with facial recognition systems. ​The US Customs and Border Protection is using a facial recognition system to identify and stop criminals and terrorists at the border. Its new facial comparison biometric system looks at the traveler and compares them to the passport photo.​
• In recent times, face recognition has been improved with the use of matching algorithms and neural networks to help in preventing criminal and terrorist activities. For instance, Virginia Beach was recently awarded a grant that will allow cameras to be installed to capture potential criminals and to find missing children, as well as Tampa, Florida is currently making the use of face recognition systems in its popular tourist areas, such as parks and airport arena for security purposes.
• However, the privacy debate around facial recognition is hindering the market growth. In March 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of its use of facial recognition technology at airports. Similarly, California, in September, passed a bill to ban the use of facial recognition-equipped cameras by law enforcement.

Healthcare is Expected to Witness Significant Growth

• Facial recognition is slowly gaining momentum in the Healthcare industry, primarily due to the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that has widened its application across a host of use-cases such as hospital traffic pattern analysis, securing hospital facilities, and recognizing patient fraud, among others.​
• The benefits of facial recognition are spreading quickly in the healthcare industry. The technology has the potential to replace passwords or devices to enable quick access to medical records. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has carried out a new study which strengthened the hypothesis about the effectiveness of AiCure‘s medication adherence solution. ​
• The technology uses a form of artificial intelligence for facial recognition, to keep track of patients taking correct medication intake, according to a report by Med City News. The findings published in Stroke, a medical journal, were based on a 12-week randomized controlled trial. ​
• Moreover, the spread of Coronavirus has increased the growth of face recognition in the healthcare industry. Vendors in the region are adopting partnerships to cater to the suddenly spiked demand and provide customized solutions and services. For instance, TensorMark has joined hands with health system University Hospitals to offer solutions with AI and biometric facial recognition technology to ease the process of returning to work amid COVID-19.

Competitive Landscape

The United States facial recognition market currently houses numerous small vendors and few prominent market players that offer the solution; owing to this, the market is moderately fragmented and observing the significant level of competition in terms of investments and M&A activities. Over the coming years, the competition in the market is expected to intensify even further as substantial vendors in the market look towards M&As. ​

• January 2020 - FaceFirst, the leading U.S. computer vision company, announced that its SDK (Software Development Kit) will now be available, enabling developers of security and identity verification products to incorporate advanced facial recognition and other video analytics into their solutions with just a few lines of code.​
• November 2019 - NEC Corporation announced the conclusion of a global cybersecurity agreement with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). This alliance will replace an existing contract that was formed in 2014. The combination of INTERPOL's international network with NEC's cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions will help the investigation and analysis of complex and sophisticated crime at the international level. This partnership with an international body will help the company to create more opportunities for facial recognition solutions as well. ​

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