RFID needs a wide-scale implementation example to showcase the Return on Investment (ROI) opportunities it offers, and in just under a year's time, it will get one at the Beijing Olympics. China is putting massive resources into the development of RFID applications, and sees it as a key industry to develop for the future. In particular, the Olympics will use RFID for ticket manufacturing, sales and verification to fight counterfeiting.
The Beijing Organising Committee expects to issue 12.2m RFID tickets, with over 1000 terminal devices used in ticket inspection. In addition, RFID will be involved in monitoring food safety for athletes throughout food production, processing and transport.
It's not just the Olympics either. Fu Shan City in Guang Dong province is being set up as an RFID base from 2010, with the government supporting and aiding 30 companies from Guang Dong and Hong Kong to become pioneers in RFID innovation.
This support of local companies to drive RFID innovation is along the same lines as the EU's Cerp (Cluster of European RFID Projects) development.
The difference is that China is the world's largest RFID market, according to ID TechEX. Indeed, the $1.9bn being spent on RFID in China in 2007 accounts for a massive 38% of the total estimated global market this year for RFID cards and systems of $4.96bn.
China Railway rollouts, pig-tagging, and anti-drug counterfeiting are likely to account for over 5bn tags a year, and there are plenty more applications too. No wonder the world's RFID supply community is beating a path to China's door as quick as it can.
