NFC Forum adds payments, retail, consumer electronics, healthcare and transport groups

“By helping us focus our efforts and expertise on the specific needs of key market sectors, the SIGs will enable the NFC Forum to facilitate and accelerate the delivery of exciting new NFC solutions to consumers,” says Forum chairman Koichi Tagawa.

NFC Forum chairman Koichi Tagawa
TAGAWA: “SIGs will enable the NFC Forum to facilitate and accelerate the delivery of exciting new NFC solutions”

The NFC Forum has launched a special interest group (SIG) initiative with the creation of five groups focussed on key vertical markets.

The five initial SIG working groups cover consumer electronics, healthcare, payments, retail, and transport and will report to a new SIG Committee which, in turn, reports to the NFC Forum board. The committee, chaired by Qualcomm’s Neeraj Bhatia and Sunil Jain from Intel, is responsible for:

  • Educational outreach on use cases, implementation issues, lessons learned, and more.
  • Gathering of business requirements to drive new or modified technical work.
  • Gathering of business requirements to drive additional volume through the Forum’s certification and interoperability testing programs, or streamline testing through cross-recognition and alliances.
  • Establishing liaisons to further collaboration efforts.
  • Developing regional programs.
  • And initiating other programs as necessary that are unique to each group.

SIG Committee Working Group participation is open to all NFC Forum members, with voting rights reserved for designated sponsor and principal member representatives, and non-voting status for associate, implementer, and non-profit member representatives.

HP’s Ken Smith chairs the Consumer Electronics Working Group, Sony’s Stephen Tiedemann chairs the Health Care Working Group, and the Payment Working Group is led by Lars Wemme of Infineon. The Retail Working Group and the Transport Working Group are led by Kovio’s Shishir Gupta and NXP’s Martin Gruber respectively.

“By fostering the direct, concerted interaction of NFC stakeholders in key vertical markets, use cases, and technology segments, the SIGs will enable the NFC Forum to take a more active role in driving NFC solutions development, deployment, and adoption,” says the industry association.

Forum chairman Koichi Tagawa adds “By helping us focus our efforts and expertise on the specific needs of key market sectors, the SIGs will enable the NFC Forum to facilitate and accelerate the delivery of exciting new NFC solutions to consumers.”

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