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{"podcast_details": {"podcast_title": "TED Tech", "episode_title": "Why the passport needs an upgrade | Karoli Hindriks", "episode_image": "https://f.prxu.org/588/images/5accd3b5-5a33-4f2c-960c-96c3dc8accb7/TED_Tech_Artwork_3000_3000.jpg", "episode_transcript": " Ted Audio Collective. I'll never forget receiving my very first passport at the age of 19 in 2006. Yes, I am ancient. I was heading into my sophomore year of college and planning a summer trip to Italy with a friend. And I was so excited about leaving the country for the first time. But first, the logistics. You know what I'm talking about. I had to get a passport, which meant sending the government a PDF application, making a copy of my birth certificate, taking photos at Walgreens, mailing everything off, and then praying. Would my glorious new passport arrive in time for me to board my flight to Florence? Listener, you'll be happy to know that it did. But after multiple renewals and updates over the past few decades, I can safely say that when it comes to getting a passport in the U.S., not much of those complicated logistics have changed. The process can take weeks or even months, and you still have to mail in your application. It's enough to make you wonder, can't we do any better than this? So today, we're hearing from a speaker who thinks we can. I'm Sherelle Dorsey. This is TED Tech. And our speaker is Estonian entrepreneur, Carolee Hendricks, who's helping give paper passports the digital upgrade we all deserve. Take a listen. Thanks to SAP SuccessFactors for sponsoring this episode. I grew up in Estonia under Soviet occupation, in a country locked up behind the thick wall of the Iron Curtain. Back then, where everything including bread, socks, and underwear was a luxury, I did not dream about the open world. Because you see, some walls are so thick and borders so closed that even dreams and ideas can't travel. However, having lived in that level of darkness made me wonder, why are borders and movement between countries constructed the way they are? According to the World Economic Forum, human capital is the driving force for economic growth. So why are the barriers to global mobility so high? Why is the process so time consuming, so dreadful and daunting, so very scary? And I know it's scary because I was detained at San Francisco Airport for two hours just to get on the stage. It was the idea that the cross-border movement of people shouldn't be so difficult that sparked my inspiration for a future of frictionless, borderless mobility for all, regardless where they are born. We are building a universal digital identity for cross-border movement. One where people own their data and can seamlessly relocate anywhere they want with minimal friction. One which would eventually allow individuals from highly skilled professionals to refugees seeking safety to start track and catch approval for their immigration process without having to print out a single piece of paper. And we are not alone. Companies and countries around the world have started to leverage technology in order to ease the complexity of immigration. By doing so, we are expanding opportunities across borders. And through that, helping to build a richer world. In 2017, The Economist magazine stated there's one seemingly simple policy that would make the world twice as rich as it is, open borders. Economist Michael Clemens from the Center of Global Development seems to agree as he claims that barriers to immigration place one of the fattest of all witches between humankind's current welfare and potential welfare. But you know what? The problem starts from what we call a passport, which was first introduced as a globally required travel document during World War I, slightly after Henry Ford introduced the first affordable automobiles. Today, our cars have come a long way. We have come from Model Ts to Teslas. But our passports look and work pretty much the same way as a century ago. Besides the lack of technology, there was also a flaw in the way the passport system was built. The modern passport was designed by a Western-centric organization after the First World War. It became an object of freedom for the advantaged, mostly Western countries, but a burden for others. The irony is that today the passport doesn't even help those same Western economists anymore. Because you see, when in the past, a good passport could indicate a person coming from a Western country with a good education system and thus useful skills, then in 2020 the World Economic Forum reported that the top three countries where the highly-educated migrants came from were India, China and Philippines. Which, according to the 2021 Henley Passport Index, ranked among the least travel-friendly passports in the world, ranking respectively 85th, 70th and 77th out of 110. So let's take a look at a recent relocation experience by a highly skilled specialist called Ip de Ha. Ip de Ha is a divorced single mother with full custody rights for her kids, six-year-old boy Kennan and an eight-year-old girl Tamara. All of them are Yemeni citizens, which according to Henley Passport Index, 2021 ranks 106 out of 110. Again, one of the least travel-friendly passports in the world. The Malaysian tech company that employed Ip de Ha wanted to transfer her and her family to their European office. The immigration authorities let her know that her visa would get approved, but her underage kids would not get their visas right away. Instead, she was required to travel 6,000 miles alone to the embassy to apply for her visa, then travel back to Malaysia, wait for three months, then travel back again, this time with her kids to apply for their visas, and only after that could they all go and live in the destination country. Stories like this are not the exception. It is a pretty accurate reflection of the immigration experiences today. And this is exactly the kind of hideous problem that I want to solve. And I know it can be solved because I have seen the Estonian society transform from one of the poorest countries in the world to an open and democratic one that not only functions but thrives as a poster child for technology-driven governance and innovation. One of the keys to Estonia's success in digitalization was the focus to build one platform called the X-Road, the backbone of digital Estonia. The key to it is one digital identity for each individual that allows public and private databases to link up and operate in harmony. Estonians can do everything online other than get married or divorced. Anything from doing taxes to voting in the elections is securely done online and takes about the same time as checking your Instagram account. On top of that, according to Sim Siket, the chief information officer of Estonia, the digital signature alone enables Estonia to save 2% of its GDP every year. 2% of GDP globally would be $1.7 trillion. With that amount of money, we could solve world hunger. That's a whole lot of money being wasted because public sectors are not adapting to existing technologies. We can tackle that by creating a secure universal digital identity where all the users need to do is upload their data and documents, such as passport, marriage and education certificates, into our smart system, which then converts that data into pieces that can be matched to relevant governance forms in different countries. The beauty of it is the once-only rule. The user needs to add that data once, as it is then stored for future use. The passport was created as a mechanism to move. It is clearly time to modernize that mechanism. If we could now connect that same digital identity to government systems worldwide, our system could act as a digital passport, and with a click of a button, immigration applications are created, submitted and digitally tracked. Imagine never to have to fill any immigration forms ever again. In order for that to happen, we need government immigration systems to enable simple integration, which would allow us to push applications and pull back the status. Today, our system is able to do all that beautiful automation, but to get that digital information to government systems worldwide, a ton of paper needs to be printed out and a human at an immigration office needs to type everything in again. In Germany, officials are so busy typing in applications that it can take up to a year to even get an appointment, at a time where Germany is experiencing a deep talent crunch. That is not just an inefficient system, not a harmless bit of bureaucracy. It is actively working against itself. Last year, through a small digitalization with Berlin immigration authorities, my team managed to shorten a process that was 90 days into two days. Think about what a person can do in 88 days. Your passport describes you as a resident of your country. We say you're a citizen of the world. A universal digital password, one that would go beyond borders, will take us towards a world where crossing borders is not about waste of time or waste of resources. Think about these 88 days and how much actual life can fit into it. Thank you. Today's episode is brought to you by SAP SuccessFactors. Is your business reaching an exciting turning point? Are you ready to seize the moment for growth? When your opportunity arrives, you need to be ready. From solving skills gaps to new labor laws and expanding into new markets, decision makers face so many challenges. So when you're facing tough decisions, SAP SuccessFactors can help you be ready for anything that happens next. Over 9,600 SAP SuccessFactors customers are seizing the moment. Will you? Head to sap.com slash b hyphen ready hyphen h cm to learn more. All right, that's our show. Thanks for listening. Ted Tech is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced by Isabel Carter, who also wrote it with me, Sherelle Dorsey. Our editor is Jimmy Gutierrez, and the show is fact checked by Christiane Aparthe. Special thanks to Farah de Grunge for her support as a project manager. I'm Sherelle Dorsey. Let's keep digging into the future. Join me next week for more."}, "podcast_summary": "In this episode of TED Tech, host Sherelle Dorsey introduces Estonian entrepreneur Carolee Hendrik's transformative idea of a digital passport. Hendrik's inspiration came from her own experiences with the complicated and time-consuming process of obtaining a physical passport. She questions why the barriers to global mobility are so high and advocates for a future of frictionless and borderless mobility for all.\n\nHendrik explains that her company is building a universal digital identity for cross-border movement, where individuals own their data and can relocate seamlessly with minimal friction. This digital identity would eventually allow people, from highly skilled professionals to refugees, to track and gain approval for their immigration process without the need for physical documentation.\n\nHendrik highlights the economic benefits of open borders, as human capital is a driving force for economic growth. She emphasizes that the current passport system is outdated and favors Western countries, whereas highly skilled migrants often come from countries with less travel-friendly passports. She shares a personal example of a highly skilled specialist who faced numerous challenges in relocating due to visa restrictions.\n\nDrawing inspiration from Estonia's success in digitalization, Hendrik proposes the creation of a secure universal digital identity. With the integration of government systems worldwide, this digital identity could replace traditional passports and enable the automation of immigration applications, reducing paperwork and inefficiencies. She shares an example of how her team shortened a 90-day process to just two days through digitalization.\n\nHendrik concludes by envisioning a world where crossing borders is not a waste of time or resources, emphasizing the potential value of the 88 days saved through a more streamlined and digitized immigration process.\n\nThis episode is sponsored by SAP SuccessFactors, and it is part of the TED Audio Collective.", "podcast_guest": {"name": "Carolee Hendricks", "org": "", "title": "", "summary": "Summary not available"}, "podcast_highlights": "Here are five key highlights from the podcast:\n\n1. \"We are building a universal digital identity for cross-border movement. One where people own their data and can seamlessly relocate anywhere they want with minimal friction.\" - Carolee Hendricks\nExplanation: Carolee Hendricks highlights the goal of creating a digital identity system that allows individuals to easily move across borders without the current complex barriers and tedious paperwork.\n\n2. \"Companies and countries around the world have started to leverage technology in order to ease the complexity of immigration. By doing so, we are expanding opportunities across borders and through that, helping to build a richer world.\" - Carolee Hendricks\nExplanation: Hendricks emphasizes the growing trend of using technology to simplify the immigration process, which leads to increased opportunities and a more interconnected global community.\n\n3. \"Today, our cars have come a long way. We have come from Model Ts to Teslas. But our passports look and work pretty much the same way as a century ago.\" - Carolee Hendricks\nExplanation: Hendricks compares the technological advancements in cars to the outdated state of passports, highlighting the need for a digital upgrade to match the progress made in other areas.\n\n4. \"The modern passport was designed by a Western-centric organization after the First World War. It became an object of freedom for the advantaged, mostly Western countries, but a burden for others.\" - Carolee Hendricks\nExplanation: Hendricks points out the historical origins of passports and how they were initially designed to benefit certain privileged countries, creating a disparity between travel opportunities for different nations.\n\n5. \"Your passport describes you as a resident of your country. We say you're a citizen of the world. A universal digital passport, one that would go beyond borders, will take us towards a world where crossing borders is not about waste of time or waste of resources.\" - Carolee Hendricks\nExplanation: Hendricks envisions a future where a digital passport system transcends national boundaries, allowing individuals to be seen as global citizens, transforming the process of crossing borders into a seamless experience that saves time and resources."}