20 Finalists Seek Top Honors in NFC Forum Global Competition 2010

WAKEFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The NFC Forum (http://www.nfc-forum.org), a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, today announced it has selected 20 finalists for its NFC Forum Global Competition 2010. Entries were received from a variety of countries throughout Asia, Europe and North America. The submissions cover a broad span of consumer and business application areas, including mobile couponing, healthcare, building access and security, retail merchandising, online user authentication, nutrition management, gaming, online banking and support for the disabled.

“These creative solutions introduce new business models, capabilities, and convenience, and we are delighted to showcase them at this year’s WIMA event.”

The Competition's Commercial Track recognizes the commercial solution judged "The Best NFC Service of the Year 2010," while a Research Track honors the academic organization that develops "The Most Innovative NFC Research Project of the Year 2010." Three winners in each track will be awarded cash prizes. First-place winners will receive 5000 euros, second-place 1500 euros and third-place 1000 euros. Finalists and winners may look forward to global media coverage, increased awareness among industry leaders and venture capitalists, and opportunities to forge partnerships and share ideas.

The 10 finalists in the Commercial Track are:

BCNTouch (Spain): Chasing Clothes
Mautilus (Czech Republic): The 3rd Eye Platform
MoLo Rewards (USA): MoLo Wallet
Objecs LLC (USA): Personal RosettaStone
Adamsoft d.o.o. (Slovenia): Smart Poster System
Clear2Pay (Belgium): NFC Vouchers – Next-generation Payments at Your Fingertips
ITN International, Inc. (USA): BCARD Reader – NFC Ecosystem for Events and Tradeshows
NEXPERTS (Austria): Touch & Pay
NTT DOCOMO, Inc. (Japan): Wellness Support – NFC Dynamic Tags Enable New Style Data Communication
VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland): Worldcom

The 10 finalists in the Research Track are:

Artesis University College Antwerp (Belgium): NFC Learning Environment
Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (Germany): "localice" – a Corporate Location-based Infrastructure Built on NFC and Wi-Fi
Interactive Research & Development (Pakistan): Interactive Chart for Childhood Diseases
LaBRI, University of Bordeaux I (France): ZeKmop – Zero Knowledge Mobile Phone
Lancaster University (UK): MyState: Allowing Users to Describe Themselves and Their Environment with NFC and Facebook
NTTPC Communications, Inc. (Japan): The Digital Contents Distribution System with NFC P2P
Technische Universität München, Chair for Information Systems (Germany): DropTheBeat – Making Online Music Playlists Touchable
Technische Universität München, Chair for Information Systems (Germany): Touch 'n Document – a Nutrition Management System on an NFC-tagged TFT Display
Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Club de Innovacion (Spain): PharmaFabula – NFC Mobile Technology and RFID for Identification of Medicines for the Blind
Universite Joseph Fourier – Polytech'Grenoble (France): TouchKey : Home and Building Access Management Platform for NFC Doorlocks

"This year’s NFC Forum Global Competition finalists underscore the remarkable versatility and applicability of the technology," said Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum. "These creative solutions introduce new business models, capabilities, and convenience, and we are delighted to showcase them at this year’s WIMA event."

Each team of finalists will deliver a presentation and live demonstration at the WIMA NFC Developers Summit demo space (http://www.wima-nfc.com) on April 21, 2010. Following these events, the jury, composed of senior and recognized professionals and experts from academia and sponsoring companies, will vote to select the three winners for each track. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony that evening at WIMA. The finalists will continue to showcase their entries in the WIMA demo space on April 22.

Further details about the competition may be found at http://www.nfc-forum.org/competition.

WIMA is a Platinum sponsor of the Competition. Adamsoft d.o.o., Nokia, and Over-C are Gold sponsors, and Stollmann E+V GmbH is a Silver sponsor.

About Stollmann E+V GmbH

Stollmann, http://www.stollmann.de/, based in Hamburg, Germany, is one of the leading developers and suppliers of standard products and licensed products for communications technologies such as NFC, Bluetooth, and ISDN. Stollmann's team of 40 specialists develops protocol stacks, reference designs, and modules. Stollmann provides a complete NFC Forum standard compliant protocol stack which is chip and interface independent. Stollmann offers a complete JAVA JSR-257 API for mobile phones, PDAs and smart phones, and an NFC kit, featuring an easy-to-use interface, USB reader, and NFC tags, all complying with the most recent NFC Forum standards. Support of upcoming NFC chips and interfaces with unchanged Stollmann API is warranted.

About Adamsoft d.o.o.

Adamsoft is an NFC (Near Field Communication) service and solution provider. The company is an innovative market leader in the fast growing NFC business solutions area. Clients include Mobile Network Operators, security companies, retailers and wholesalers. Adamsoft's R&D of NFC future models is the basis for successful business cases of its clients.

About Nokia

At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

About Over-C

Founded in 2001, Over-C is the leading provider of hosted Near Field Communication software applications focused on the management of tag events, from tag scan through the back office. Over-C's hosted solutions help companies get the right data to the right person at the right time. Over-C is at the forefront of development of both the technological and business potential of NFC, and is committed to the provision of innovation, quality and technology-based experience to all its customers. With clients in a broad range of industries, Over-C consistently monitors around one million NFC activities each month. For more information on Over-C, visit www.over-c.com.

About WIMA

WIMA is the leading international Conference & Exhibition exclusively dedicated to NFC technology, bringing together industry leaders, start-up companies, application developers, standards organisations, and research & educational institutions to its annual event in Monaco. Book your agenda for WIMA 2010 -- 4th Global NFC Business & Technical Developers Summit from 21-22 April, featuring the NFC Forum Global Competition Finals & Awards Ceremony, plus an exhibition and demonstration floor packed with the latest, most innovative NFC applications, products and services, parallel Business & Technical conference tracks, NFC Forum Programmes for Developers and, in conjunction with NFC Research Lab Hagenberg and VTT Technical Research Center Finland, the NFC2010 IEEE Workshop. Excellent networking guaranteed.

About Near Field Communication Technology

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standards-based, short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables simple and safe two-way interactions between electronic devices. NFC technology allows consumers to perform contactless transactions, access digital content and connect devices with the simplicity of a single touch.

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology provides global interoperability of contactless identification and interconnection technologies. NFC operates in the 13.56 MHz frequency range, over a typical distance of a few centimeters. The underlying layers of NFC technology are based on ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards. NFC technology is supported by the world’s leading communication device manufacturers, semiconductor producers, network operators, IT and services companies, and financial services organizations. NFC is compatible with hundreds of millions of contactless cards and readers already deployed worldwide.

About the NFC Forum

The NFC Forum, http://www.nfc-forum.org, was launched as a non-profit industry association in 2004 by leading mobile communications, semiconductor and consumer electronics companies. The Forum’s mission is to advance the use of Near Field Communication technology by developing specifications, ensuring interoperability among devices and services and educating the market about NFC technology. The Forum’s 140 global member companies currently are developing specifications for a modular NFC device architecture, and protocols for interoperable data exchange and device-independent service delivery, device discovery and device capability.

The NFC Forum’s Sponsor members, which hold seats on the Board of Directors, include leading players in key industries around the world. The Sponsor members are: Innovision Research & Technology plc, INSIDE Contactless, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft Corp., NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Renesas Technology, Samsung, Sony Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Visa Inc.