September 21, 2006
New RFID Research Consortium Led By IBM
ITA (International Technology Alliance), a defense technology research program between the US and the UK was announced this week. It consists of 25 organizations led by IBM [RFID Update]. Areas of involvement include military, industry, and academics.
Does anyone else find it strange that no other English-speaking countries are part of this? It's considerably surprising, since, for example, IBM Canada does a considerable amount of R&D (research & development) for IBM head office. Canada has had RFID programs in place since the mid-1980s. Also, Australia has several current RFID initiatives.
Have a look at the RFID Update article to see the list of some very influential partcipating organizations from business and academia. The research program could run for ten years, but no explanation is given of why just these two countries are participating. RFID Journal offers some supplemental information.
This isn't the only RFID consortium. Several others have been forming lately, including RFID Consortium and RFID CUSP. The former is an industry group formed for several reasons including managing an RFID patent pool, as well as promoting UHF (Ultra High Frequency) RFID. The latter is a joint effort between academics and industry reps, to study security and privacy implications of radio frequency technology.
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