NFC Forum Announces Winners for 2026 NFC Forum Innovation Awards

Lisbon, Portugal, 7 October 2026 – NFC Forum, the leading standards body for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has announced the winners for the 2026 edition of its Innovation Awards. Following a public vote, 3ALogics, Miele, NFC21 GmbH, QR Cattle and Spark Minda were each recognized as winners in a ceremony at the NFC Forum European Member Meetings in Lisbon, Portugal.

The NFC Innovation Awards recognize breakthrough products that showcase outstanding implementations and the most innovative uses of NFC. This year’s winning solutions were as follows:

3ALogics was announced as a winner for its VOLTEND Battery-Free NFC Lockout/Tagout system – a padlock powered by the user’s smartphone. An innovative use of contactless-tap technology, the solution allows the lock to power itself using the RF field shared by a smartphone, then authenticates the user and operates a padlock action. Whilst not only a simple to use solution, the system creates and maintains a verifiable digital record of all users with access to the lock, providing a secure method of access control.

Miele was recognized for its Miele KM8000 & M Sense: Smart Cooking System, which combines both active and passive NFC behind a single touchpoint. Active NFC technology pairs the cooktop with Miele’s M Sense cookware such as pots and pans, allowing it to monitor and adjust temperature automatically. Passive NFC functionality supports in-app usability, pairing the cooktop to the user’s smartphone, enabling a highly streamlined cooking experience.

NFC21 GmbH was also announced as a winner, with its SenseTap app, designed to help enable visually impaired and blind people to live more safely and independently. The app allows caregivers to write, create and manage haptic tags through the app. This then enables users to scan these tags on their smartphone, which will read the tag’s information out loud; for those with visual impairments, this will help promote more freedom in day-to-day life.

QR Cattle has won with its QR Cattle ID, which allows cattle farmers to access information and medical histories of each animal with a simple tap of their NFC enabled smartphone. Even remote farms will have access to this technology, as encrypted data is stored natively in the credential. This enables users to access the data with no need for an internet connection or a central database.

The final winner is Spark Minda, an engineering and R&D centre for electronics and mechatronics, for its NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)6.0 Based Smart Start Stop Button (SSB) for Vehicle Access. This button combines NFC and BLE technology to help deliver a secure, intuitive and cost-effective solution in the Vehicle Access field. By using NFC standards which deliver close-range verification, combined with BLE 6.0 which provides presence detection, the pairing provides a seamless and secure user experience.

These five winners were chosen by public vote from a ballot of ten finalists. The remaining solutions chosen as shortlisted finalists were Blok by Just Commit Inc., Pragmatic NFC Protect PR1311 by Pragmatic Semiconductor, TM NFC+ Augmented Reality Restaurant Menus by TM Technologies Inc, TRIFORA Smart Kitting by TOA Corporation, and Smart Bottle by XenTag Inc.

“It’s fantastic to see such variety in how NFC continues to be used to solve real world challenges and create better user experiences,” comments Mike McCamon, Executive Director of NFC Forum. “This continued innovation demonstrates the long arc of contactless in action; an inevitable and accelerating adoption of NFC technology across countless use cases in line with the growing user demand for device-first solutions.”

Raul Ramos Perez, NFC Forum Certification Program Manager, adds “Each of the finalists for this year’s NFC Forum Innovation Awards demonstrated the technical elegance of NFC and how it can be used to make a difference to everyday life. For over 20 years, NFC has served as a trusted data exchange protocol, and this year’s Awards provide a timely reminder of its fundamental role in both the present and the future of contactless innovation.”

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