RFID: Tapping an $8.4 Billion Market

In 2007, GTI initiated and refined plans to establish a state-of-the-art industry-focused global centre of excellence in radio frequency identification (RFID) at its Athlone campus. The centre is expected to open early in 2008 as a test bed for a technology that will help companies get the right product to the right customer at the right time - and, in the future, may do much more.

RFID is a term that describes any system of identification in which an electronic device that uses radio frequency or magnetic field variations is attached to an item. This device, or tag, enables an item to be tracked by another device, called a reader. RFID therefore has applications in any industry - from manufacturing or retail to health care, pharmaceuticals or agriculture - that needs to monitor its products from start to finish in the supply chain or ensure product integrity and authenticity.

As concerns about counterfeiting, pilferage and on-time delivery grow, and new uses emerge, worldwide RFID markets are expected to increase from $3.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2007 to $8.4 billion ($5.3 billion) in 2012, according to a study by ABI Research, an international market research firm.

GTI identified RFID as a focus technology not only because of its market value, but also because RFID incorporates and depends on a range of other advanced technologies attractive to multinational corporations. These technologies include:

• Mobility - wireless, communications, global positioning systems, etc;
• Software development;
• Network engineering and security;
• Electronic product code global network build-out;
• Supply chain modeling and business-to-business solutions;
• Mesh sensor networks and applications;
• Biotechnology and nanotechnology R&D.

RFID will therefore serve as an entry point for GTI to the future development of a spectrum of advanced technologies.

The 10,000-square-foot building in Garrycastle, Athlone was completed in December 2007. The facility will be outfitted with $300,000 ($188,000) in equipment donated by a multinational corporation, which also provided $100,000 ($63,000) in startup funding. It will incorporate a simulated assembly line, a data analysis and development lab, product-tracking functionality, and a sensors development lab.

GTI is already in advanced discussions on research projects with major multinational sponsors in the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors. Substantial follow-on work is expected.
GTI's RFID program is headed by Dr. Joseph Dalton. GTRI's highly regarded scientists and engineers based in the U.S. will provide additional research and facility support.
Dalton and his colleagues have elected to concentrate on three main challenges within the RFID framework: end-to-end global supply chain simulation, ensuring supply chain security, and next-generation networks using devices as sensors. Key to the GTI approach is finding scalable solutions to supply chain management problems.

RFID is still a relatively young technology. Many opportunities for innovation and refinement exist. Indeed, RFID is ideal for GTI's capabilities in translational research because breakthroughs on the industry side of the research spectrum will be required for the technology to mature properly. This fits squarely with the Irish government's stated desire and GTI's mandate to promote a strong industrial research base.