With the launch of an RFID Investment Summit to be held in Boston on Feb 20, Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx looks at the recent investor interest in RFID and particularly active RFID and Real Time Locating Systems.

Despite some areas under performing, most of the RFID business is booming. Here IDTechEx has interviewed key companies in different vertical sectors. We present their comments on the opportunity for RFID in those sectors.

From inception to creating - all you need to know about manufacturing low cost high performance RFID

Where are the RFID success stories and in which market sectors? Here Teresa Henry highlights the leading adopter nations, the big spenders and surprise niches for RFID implementation.

Has the pallet/case market for RFID tags and other hardware become the nearest thing to a black hole in the RFID universe in 2006, thanks to reluctant mandated customers, technical problems and pricing for volumes that never came?

RFID technology is moving on apace in some areas. Certainly EPC Gen2 tags have demonstrated spectacular performance improvements when tagging cases and pallets. However work is still needed.

At IDTechEx, when we teach Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), we talk of it being a ubiquitous enabling technology like the wheel or paper. After all, RFID is now used from Bulgaria to Namibia, from Azerbaijan to Vietnam and Antarctica. There are well over 10,000 RFID projects out there and there are over 1000 suppliers that have now landed substantial orders for the specialist RFID hardware and services involved. Yet things have barely started.

The IDTechEx RFID Smart Labels Europe Conference and Exhibition on September 19-20 broke new ground, showing how the subject has moved on. Here are some highlights of the event.

Contactless smart cards are the largest RFID sector by far and the business is booming. As a result of the reduced cost of the latest contactless systems IDTechEx forecast a boom in RFID smart cards.

On Tuesday delegates from 29 countries will meet in London at the IDTechEx RFID Smart Labels Europe and Active RFID Europe events. See the latest unmissable speaker additions and event updates.

An analysis of 75 case studies from 18 countries of Active RFID in action shows the hot sectors in this technology vertical.

If you are looking to raise money for your business involved in RFID, Printed Electronics or Smart Packaging, IDTechEx can offer free help.

The correlation between the volume and pricing of RFID tags has been a much debated topic in recent times. Here is Dr Peter Harrop's forecast on pricing for the next ten years and his justification behind the figures.

Item level RFID is set for substantial growth over the next decade. A new study from IDTechEx forecasts and explores key markets that will apply item-level tagging, advances in technology and the mass adoption that will follow. Dr. Peter Harrop from IDTechEx summarises this study. See www.idtechex.com/item for more information.

RFID in healthcare is growing rapidly to become a $2.1 billion global business in 2016. Smart packaging for healthcare has additional value, for example, ensuring that people take the correct pills at the right time. RFID can improve the lives of patients in many different ways...

With IATA's decision to settle on one standard for RFID tags in airline baggage that sector of the market is due to rise from $20 million in 2006 to $100 million in 2016. RFID will also be used by airlines to tag crucial aeroplane parts and by airports to improve security...

The IDTechEx RFID Knowledgebase, the world's largest searchable database of RFID in action, has reached 2000 cases, revealing surprising trends. In this article Dr Peter Harrop analyses lessons, global trends and statistics from 2000 RFID implementations.

Item level tagging is happening faster than most realize - 200 million tags will be used in 2006 for item level tagging alone - mainly on apparel, books and drugs to name a few applications.The seventh annual RFID Smart Labels Europe event focuses on the progress to item level tagging, giving analysis of suitable technologies from global experts.

An analysis of RFID adoption in New Zealand and Australia. Australia and New Zealand have some leadership positions in adopting RFID but in some other respects, these countries are laggards in adopting RFID and need to benchmark against best practice elsewhere and catch up. Learn of the major RFID projects in these countries so far.

Investors seek unique technologies, then some major customers. Passive RFID oversupplied; but opportunities for active RFID and software.