Partnership aims to boost RFID adoption

Staff and students to collaborate with business on RFID feasibility studies

Auckland University of Technology and the New Zealand RFID Pathfinder Group have signed a memorandum of understanding aiming to drive the adoption of standards-based radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies in New Zealand

Under the pact, the two organisations will collaborate on RFID-related research, educational activities and operational trials.

The Pathfinder Group includes major New Zealand businesses and technology providers, including Fonterra, Progressive Enterprises and IBM and is supported by GS1 New Zealand, the local arm of the international GS1 network which promotes the use of international standards in business.

Staff and students in AUT’s School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences will contribute to feasibility studies on the application of RFID. They will also collaborate with Pathfinder Group members on technical research into RFID tags and readers, on RFID-related educational programmes and on the development of standards for RFID, particularly standards under the Electronic Product Code (EPC).

“We believe RFID, when applied in the right way, really can help lift New Zealand’s economic performance by cutting cost out of businesses and by making supply chains much more efficient and more responsive to market demands,” Alan Mayo, chairman of the Pathfinder Group, said in a statement.

“The technologies are in their infancy around the world and as a small trading nation with proven early-adopter capabilities, New Zealand could realise major benefits from moving forward with RFID at this stage,” he said

Mayo said the Pathfinder Group is talking with a number of industries about the prospects for a concerted push into RFID.

“We’re looking at establishment of two or three exemplars in how the technologies can be used for different purposes, in different industries. It makes sense to focus largely on the industries of greatest importance to New Zealand as a whole,” he said.

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