NFC Forum awards best-in-class innovators

The NFC Forum's third annual NFC Innovation Awards took place entirely online. The 2020 Online Innovation Awards ceremony, held Sept. 30, 2020, recognized innovative Near Field Communication (NFC) use cases in blockchain, IoT and mobile sectors. This year's award winners demonstrated exemplary development and deployment of NFC products, services and applications, stated Koichi Tagawa, NFC Forum chair.

"This year's NFC Innovation Award winners demonstrate the transformative power of NFC technology in society. NFC is a standard feature on most smartphones and is involved in the daily lives of billions of people," Tagawa said. "I'd like to thank our sponsors NXP Semiconductors and Identity, the judges and everyone who submitted an award entry."

Describing NFC as one of the most prolific technologies on the planet, Tagawa praised award recipients for leveraging NFC technology to make global commerce more connected, convenient and simple.

Grand prize winners

A panel of global leaders and industry experts selected four grand prize winners in five categories. Entries were judged on innovation, commercial potential, usability, and the quality of their deployments, implementations and designs, NFC Forum members stated.

The following grand prize winners received NFC Forum Innovation Award trophies; they are also featured on the NFC Forum website:

• Most Innovative Use of NFC: IoTize SAS - Stroke Configuration with TapNLink NFC and Mobile Apps for HVAC Systems

• NFC For A Greener Or Safer World: 1TrueID SRL - WRAD: P.E.A.S. Project – Blockchain in the Fashion Industry

• Best-in-Market NFC Implementation: Transact - Transact Mobile Credential

• Best NFC Application in iOS: WAKDEV - NFC Tools for iOS

• Best NFC Application in Android: WAKDEV - NFC Tools for Android

Additional information about the grand prize winners and details on their entries can be found at nfc-forum.org/nfc-innovation-award-program/2020-nfc-innovation-awards-program/2020-nfc-innovation-awards-finalists/ .

Toward a greener planet

The NFC Forum works with leading mobile communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies to promote uses of NFC technology. The association develops specifications to enhance interoperability across devices and services and educates the market about NFC. Among the projects underway are a modular NFC device architecture, and new protocols for interoperable data exchange and device-independent service delivery, device discovery, and device capability.

NFC Forum member and 2020 award winner WRÅD is working on the Product Education Accountability System, a research and development project that uses NFC technology to educate customers about the environmental impact of their clothing usage. NFC tags, placed directly on clothing items, will show how the product was cultivated from raw material and can be reused at the end of its useful life. Customers can read this information using an app designed and developed by 1TrueID.

"The guarantee of the authenticity of the data will be certified by applying the blockhain method throughout the supply chain, for a full product visibility and as a mean against counterfeiting, increasing this way the B2B and final costumer's loyalty," WRÅD representatives stated. "The implementation of a system of rewards, awards valuable cryptocurrency to the 'links' part of the blockchain for their transparency, conscious and sustainable approach towards the society and environment."

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