Daniel P. Mullen, President, AIM Global

What benefits do you think RFID technology can bring to consumers?

RFID is already improving consumer quality of life through such innovations as the automated payment of toll road fees and public transit fares, the authentication of prescription medications, food safety and homeland security enhancements, the quick check-out of library materials, and the tracking of the locations and progress of participants in marathons and other races. It is not so hard to envision RFID-enabled mobile phones connecting consumers with the information they need when they need it – whether downloading maps at a train station, buying tickets, checking out of a supermarket or paying for lunch.

How can awareness of the technology be raised? Are you planning to do something towards that end?

Consumers need to hear the real-life stories about the incredible benefits that RFID has brought and is bringing to the market – from protecting blood supplies, locating contaminated food products quickly, and easily and providing assurance against drug counterfeiting to rescuing trapped miners, speeding up ski lift lines, reuniting parents and their lost children at resorts, and even helping with recycling.

It is also important to share that the industry is self-regulating and that it promotes applications that benefit consumers in concrete ways. AIM Global is actively engaging journalists, policy makers, educators, and conference audiences about all of these topics. We also regularly report on many of the important positive applications in our RFID Connections newsletter.

Organisation

AIM Global is the international industry association for automatic identification and mobile technologies. We work to support the development of international standards, and we educate companies and consumers about the benefits of these technologies. AIM Global has been working in the RFID market since its earliest commercialisation in the 1980’s.

In 2007, AIM Global launched a proactive RFID outreach initiative to educate the general public and policy makers about the myriad consumer benefits of RFID technologies. The initiative provides relevant, timely examples of consumer-oriented RFID applications, dispels myths promoting public concern about the technology, and corrects inaccuracies and misperceptions about the usage of RFID in society today. The focus is on the convenience, safety, and security that RFID brings to consumers’ daily lives.

AIM Global’s RFID web portal, rfid.org, is a noted industry resource. It is the home of the longest-published RFID e-Newsletter, RFID Connections. In 2007, AIM Global began to educate the general public and policy makers about the myriad of consumer benefits of RFID.

www.aimglobal.org

www.rfid.org