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Photo/Shetuwang

During the first INCLUSION Fintech Conference that kicked off on Thursday in Shanghai, a pet noseprint recognition technology developed by Ant Group, the parent company of China's leading mobile-payment business Alipay, was showcased and will be applied in more pet services.

Pets' noseprints are similar to human fingerprints in that they are unique. The noseprint recognition technology developed by Ant Group can accurately identify pets in one second. It is currently available for dogs and cats and used in the pet insurance products of Alipay.

Hu Jiangcheng, a pet trainer with eight years of experience in military dog training, came to challenge the technology with confidence in knowing the habits and characteristics of various dogs. However, he was also dazzled by three highly similar dogs and failed to identify the correct one.

With the technology, Alipay can create an electronic file for each insured pet, based on the information of the noseprint. Pet owners can scan the nose of their pets to make a claim.

According to a white paper on China's pet business, published by the Chinese pet industry website goumin.com, urban consumption in the pet market in China exceeded 200 billion yuan (about 29.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, with 99.15 million pet dogs and cats in China's urban areas.

"For many people, pets are important family members. The application of noseprint recognition is expected to be promoted nationwide," said Wang Fang, general manager of property insurance of Ant Group.

In the future, pet noseprint recognition technology will likely be applied to urban pet management in China, which will provide each pet with their own electronic ID to improve management efficiency. 

 

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn

Editor: Lan Suying