NEXPERTS and PharmaFabula Earn Top Awards at NFC Forum Event in Karlshamn, Sweden
KARLSHAMN, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The NFC Forum (http://www.nfc-forum.org), a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, today announced the winners of the NFC Forum Global Competition 2010 (http://www.nfc-forum.org/competition). The winning entries were named at an awards ceremony held tonight at the NFC Forum all-member meeting in Karlshamn, Sweden.
“The Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2010”
The NFC Forum Global Competition promotes the development and deployment of innovative and exemplary NFC services by both commercial and academic developers. The Commercial Track is for business ideas that address a specific market, business, or consumer need or want. The Research Track is open to the academic community, including university student teams and institutions.
From the 20 finalists selected earlier from applicants representing a variety of countries in Asia, Europe and North America, first-, second-, and third-place winners in each track were chosen by a jury composed of senior professionals and recognized experts from academia, members, and sponsoring companies. Entries were judged on their innovation, commercial potential, and usability, as well as on quality of design and implementation.
The first half of the Competition took place at the WIMA NFC Developers Summit in Monaco in April. Due to travel restrictions caused by the volcanic ash, some finalists were not able to attend. To accommodate them, the NFC Forum’s member meeting in Karlshamn was selected as the venue for the second half of the competition, at which finalists demonstrated their entries to the jury earlier today. Winners in each track received cash prizes: first-place received 5000 euros, second-place 1500 euros, and third-place 1000 euros.
The first-place winner in the Commercial Track, "The Best NFC Service of the Year 2010," is NEXPERTS (Austria) for Touch & Pay, which makes self-service shopping as easy as possible. The customer's NFC-enabled phone provides access to the store, a virtual shopping basket, and the payment terminal. The principle of Touch & Pay can be extended to rural areas or countries without a POS payment infrastructure.
The first-place winner in the Research Track, "The Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2010," is PharmaFabula (Spain) for NFC Mobile Technology and RFID for Identification of Medicines for the Blind. Using an NFC-enabled mobile device, PharmaFabula provides object identification for the blind. It reports medical information from prescriptions, leaflets, and other useful data in audio format. It can also provide personal information, like dosage and treatment duration. ONCE, the Spanish organization of blind people, tested PharmaFabula and were very satisfied with the results.
"In winning this year's competition, NEXPERTS and PharmaFabula remind us once again that there is no limit to the imagination. Each of these award-winning entries is a testament to NFC technology's unique ability to enable solutions that improve, enrich, and simplify people's lives," said Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum.
The second-place winner in the Commercial Track is ITN International, Inc. (USA) for BCARD Reader - NFC Ecosystem for Events and Tradeshows. The BCARD Reader is the first and only dedicated NFC ecosystem designed to manage and enhance the information exchange process at events, tradeshows, and exhibitions. Third place goes to NTT DOCOMO (Japan) for Wellness Support - NFC Dynamic Tags Enable New Style Data Communication. With Wellness Support, an NFC Dynamic Tag is embedded into personal healthcare devices, enabling convenient and instant data exchange.
In the Research Track, Artesis University College Antwerp (Belgium) was awarded second place for NFC Learning Environment, which lets teachers tag objects that students then investigate and explore. This application brings the advantages of NFC into the world of education as these "smart objects" share their story. The system provides exercises, registers student achievement, and keeps teachers up-to-date. The third-place prize goes to Lancaster University (UK) for MyState: Allowing Users to Describe Themselves and Their Environment with NFC and Facebook, which allows users to create interactive environments by placing NFC tags on objects to create individual, personalized applications.
For both commercial and research track developers, the NFC Forum Global Competition is more than just an opportunity to win an award. Finalists and winners may look forward to global media coverage, increased awareness among attending industry leaders and venture capitalists, and opportunities to forge partnerships and share ideas.
WIMA is a Platinum sponsor of the competition. Adamsoft d.o.o., Nokia, and Over-C are Gold sponsors, and Stollmann E+V GmbH is a Silver sponsor.
About Stollmann E+V GmbH
Stollmann, http://www.stollmann.de/, based in Hamburg, Germany, is one of the leading developers and suppliers of standard products and licensed products for communications technologies such as NFC, Bluetooth, and ISDN. Stollmann's team of 40 specialists develops protocol stacks, reference designs, and modules. Stollmann provides a complete NFC Forum standard compliant protocol stack which is chip and interface independent. Stollmann offers a complete JAVA JSR-257 API for mobile phones, PDAs and smart phones, and an NFC kit, featuring an easy-to-use interface, USB reader, and NFC tags, all complying with the most recent NFC Forum standards. Support of upcoming NFC chips and interfaces with unchanged Stollmann API is warranted.
About Adamsoft d.o.o.
Adamsoft is an NFC (Near Field Communication) service and solution provider. The company is an innovative market leader in the fast growing NFC business solutions area. Clients include Mobile Network Operators, security companies, retailers and wholesalers. Adamsoft's R&D of NFC future models is the basis for successful business cases of its clients.
About Nokia
At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.
About Over-C
Founded in 2001, Over-C is the leading provider of hosted Near Field Communication software applications focused on the management of tag events, from tag scan through the back office. Over-C's hosted solutions help companies get the right data to the right person at the right time. Over-C is at the forefront of development of both the technological and business potential of NFC, and is committed to the provision of innovation, quality and technology-based experience to all its customers. With clients in a broad range of industries, Over-C consistently monitors around one million NFC activities each month. For more information on Over-C, visit www.over-c.com.
About WIMA
WIMA is the leading international Conference & Exhibition exclusively dedicated to NFC technology, bringing together industry leaders, start-up companies, application developers, service providers, standards organisations, and research & educational institutions to its annual event in Monaco, WIMA 2011 -- 5th Global NFC Business & Technical Developers Summit will take place from 19-21 April, featuring an exhibition and demonstration floor packed with the latest, most innovative NFC applications, products and services, parallel Business & Technical conference tracks, hands on workshops and an NFC Forum session. Excellent networking guaranteed.
About Near Field Communication Technology
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables simple and safe two-way interactions between electronic devices. NFC technology allows consumers to perform contactless transactions, access digital content and connect devices with the simplicity of a single touch.
Near Field Communication (NFC) technology provides global interoperability of contactless identification and interconnection technologies. NFC operates in the 13.56 MHz frequency range, over a typical distance of a few centimeters. The underlying layers of NFC technology are based on ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards. NFC technology is supported by the world’s leading communication device manufacturers, semiconductor producers, network operators, IT and services companies, and financial services organizations. NFC is compatible with hundreds of millions of contactless cards and readers already deployed worldwide.
About the NFC Forum
The NFC Forum, http://www.nfc-forum.org, was launched as a non-profit industry association in 2004 by leading mobile communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. The Forum’s mission is to advance the use of Near Field Communication technology by developing specifications, ensuring interoperability among devices and services and educating the market about NFC technology. The Forum’s 140 global member companies currently are developing specifications for a modular NFC device architecture, and protocols for interoperable data exchange and device-independent service delivery, device discovery and device capability.
The NFC Forum’s Sponsor members, which hold seats on the Board of Directors, include leading players in key industries around the world. The Sponsor members are: Innovision Research & Technology plc, INSIDE Contactless, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft Corp., NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Renesas Technology, Samsung, Sony Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Visa Inc.
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