Back in October, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang first cautioned that the world is now undergoing a Fourth Industrial Revolution, and everyone needs to be prepared for how the adoption of cyberphysical systems will significantly change the way people live and work.

This new world is taking computerization a step further to include smart technology such as artificial intelligence, facial ID recognition, 3D printing, genome editing, and digital health-care sensors.  In parts of Africa and Asia with prevalence of infectious diseases, poverty and rapid population growth, programs are in place to provide digital ID with vaccines and possible birth control implant with a microchip.

Last September, the ID2020 Alliance that provides digital ID, in collaboration with the vaccine alliance Gavi and the Government of Bangladesh, launched a new program combining biometrics and blockchain to provide digital ID with vaccines.

Both ID2020 and Gavi Alliance are supported by Bill Gates through Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the program leverages immunization as an opportunity to establish digital identity, which in this case would track who has received vaccination. According to an analysis published by Pew Research Centre last July, Bangladesh places eighth as the most populous country in the world in 2020, yet still suffers from widespread poverty.