The collaboration was agreed via the signing of a Letter of Intent at the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) supported 'Trade Force Mission' reception in Washington DC on Monday 25 June. UKTI facilitated the introduction of SAIC and the University of Kent at the highly successful 'Science for Security' mission in November 2006 and has supported their collaboration over the past eight months.

The signatories were Carole Barron, director of enterprise at the University of Kent and John Christensen, vice-president of corporate business development at SAIC.

The collaboration will involve SAIC and the University working to meet the challenges of the international biometrics market, one that is poised for sustained growth.

The benefits for the University include the enhanced co-operation and collaboration with one of the most important and innovative companies in the new global economy.

The benefits for SAIC include direct interaction through UKBI (United Kingdom Biometrics Institute - a University of Kent initiative) with the UK's academic research base, industry, government agencies and the European biometrics community.

"We are delighted to be embarking on what we expect to be a very rewarding collaboration with SAIC. The development of this exciting collaboration is a reflection of the world-class reputation for the University's research in the area of biometrics and identity management. We are looking forward to building on this international collaboration with one of the world's largest systems, solutions and technical services companies to address challenges facing the world today in human identity management" says Carole Barron.

"UKTI has been instrumental in bringing together the University of Kent and SAIC. This Letter of Intent forms a basis for continued collaboration between SAIC and UKBI. We look forward to contributing to the accelerated transfer of biometrics and identity management technology from academia into deployable solutions" adds John Christensen.

"This is extremely good news for the University, but it also demonstrates the enormous value of UKBI in stimulating opportunities to extend the reach of the established strengths of the UK biometrics community" says Professor Michael Fairhurst, head of the department of electronics at Kent Univesity and a co-founder of UKBI.