Printed, Flexible and Organic Electronics

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.