World Bank reports ‘global surge’ in digital payments during pandemic

World Bank graph showing global surge in digital payments during Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven a “global surge” in digital payments with two-thirds of adults worldwide now making or receiving digital payments, rising from 35% in 2014 to 57% in 2021 in developing economies and from 88% in 2014 to 95% in 2021 in high-income economies, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2021 database... More


Researchers develop NFC extenders that can be built into clothing to enable hands-free NFC interactions at a distance

smart clothing with ‘body-centric NFC’ that enables hands-free access control

An international team of researchers has developed flexible NFC extenders that enable the wearer to interact with NFC tags at a greater distance than has previously been possible, opening up the potential for hands-free NFC interactions in use cases ranging from exchanging contact details at a distance, entering a building while carrying shopping bags and accessing online instructions while carrying out physical exercise... More




NFC World

Developers to use NFC to give reusable plastic containers unique digital identities

Child and woman recycling reusable plastic containers which use NFC to give them a unique digital identity

A UK-based consortium is to investigate the use of ultra-low-cost NFC technology to give individual items of reusable plastic packaging a unique digital identity (UDI) in order to track them across each package’s lifecycle, encourage their reuse and enable the development of a scalable packaging-as-a-service infrastructure... More




What's New in Payments

IMF reports on digital currencies

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva

Around 100 countries are now exploring the potential development and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the challenges and opportunities identified by these research projects reveal a need for “increased international information-sharing of insights learned”, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report... More


Contactless World Congress

NFCW to host Contactless World Congress

Contactless World Congress logo

NFCW is pleased to announce that registration is now open for Contactless World Congress, a new kind of event that will bring together innovators, policy makers and technical experts from across the globe to share the latest thinking on how to build a contactless world — online, year-round, with no travel required... More



NFC World

Chinese researchers create highly flexible NFC circuits using transparent film based on calligraphy paper

HHighly flexible NFC circuit created using transparent film based on calligraphy paper

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei have developed a pliable high-strength transparent film and demonstrated how it can be used to create NFC circuits that can still be read even after being folded or bent and could be integrated into flexible electronic and optical devices... More









NFC World

Researchers propose patient monitoring system for remote Covid-19 wards using NFC tags

Schematic showing proposed patient monitoring system for remote Covid-19 wards using NFC tags

Researchers at Rajalakshmi Engineering College in Chennai, India, and in Sydney, Australia, have published a paper laying out the framework for a “contactless tele-health system” that uses NFC technology to enable healthcare workers to upload, access and update health and treatment data for individual patients in remotely located mobile Covid-19 quarantine and isolation wards... More