RFID growth demands govt. and industry cooperation, a Commerce De...

Sampson said at an RFID conference sponsored by the National Chamber Foundation and SAP in Washington. “Our success in advancing innovation will depend on the partnership between the federal government, industry and academia,” he said: “We need… to establish intelligent dialogues on the global potential of RFID, and hopefully avoid some of the misinformation and emotions that discussion of emerging new technologies like RFID can sometimes generate.” The govt. increasingly sees RFID as “a technology that promises to keep America more competitive and innovative in the world economy,” Sampson said. Citing industry sources, he said the RFID market for consulting, implementation and managed services could be $2-$4.2 billion by 2008. That year will see as much as 30% of capital goods carry RFID tags, he said. The Defense Dept., which has extensive supply chains, leads the govt. in RFID adoption, Sampson said. “RFID applications are also being tested in other parts of government for logistics support and for public safety and security,” he said. DoC, for example, has an RFID working group engaging several of its offices to “better understand the technology, its deployment in the business sector and the policy challenges associated with an emerging technology application,” he said. DoC recently issued an RFID paper, Radio Frequency Identification: Opportunities and Challenges in Implementation. Commerce will continue to drive RFID innovation, Sampson said, but “there are challenges, as is common with any emerging technology.” They include harmonization of standards and interoperability issues across different RFID systems, companies and countries, as well as privacy and security concerns, he said. “We are working with industry on the development of practical and market-driven technical standards to allow greater interoperability,” Sampson said, stressing “market-driven.” “We must also implement smart privacy and security policies that can sustain innovation built around RFID technology and provide consumers with the information and tools they need to protect themselves,” he said: “All these challenges must be overcome for RFID to achieve its full potential.” Sampson stressed common standards as “key to making possible the wide-spread deployment of technology and all its associated benefits.” As more economies with unique standards enter the global market, “the need for harmonized standards becomes more acute,” Sampson said, citing China as an example. “We need to educate our trading partners that multiple standards create huge costs and great burdens for product and technology development as well as world trade,” he said.