Four Days Of Specifications, Awards, VISIONFC Payment and Transport Summit, Cake And Demos

Singapore’s national aspiration is to be the technology hub of Asia so it was an ideal choice for the NFC Forum to hold its most recent – and 45th — member meeting from November 5-8, 2019. The meeting was hosted by Platinum Sponsor Infineon Technologies and featured a special, one-day VISIONFC Payment and Transport Summit at the lovely Swissotel Merchant Court on the banks of the Singapore River.

Working sessions for the Technical and Compliance Committees as well as Special Interest Work Groups focused on refining and/or developing new global NFC standards and specifications impacting over two billion people with NFC-enabled devices and smartphones. Special emphasis is increasingly being placed on enhancing the user experience. Although NFC is one of the “big three” consumer technologies, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it is the least understood and simultaneously one of the most prolific technologies in the world. This year four billion Wi-Fi devices, four billion Bluetooth devices and over two billion NFC devices will ship. Next year, smartphone users will reach over three billion. NFC is one of the three technologies leading the drive toward a more connected, simplified life for consumers and businesses across the globe.

VISIONFC Summit Focuses On Payment and Transport

Almost 100 attendees at the event had the opportunity to learn how NFC technology simplifies user engagement, enables new business models and is actively generating results in the digital transformation of payments and mobility. As digital payments accelerate and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) goes global, stakeholders need to stay up-to-date on the latest developments and what they mean for business. Koichi Tagawa, chairman, NFC Forum and Preeti Ohri Khemani, vice chairman, NFC Forum opened the Summit (pictured left to right below) Other speakers included: Goh Say Yeow, vice president, Head of Digital Security Solutions Asia Pacific, Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte Ltd; Namrta Bangia, director, Global Mass Transit ; Silvester Prakasam, senior advisor, Fare Systems, LTA Singapore; Satoshi Shibata, assistant manager, JR East; Sadiq Mohammed, vice president, EMV and Digital Devices, Mastercard; Manoj Sugathan, head of Chip, Contactless and Urban Mobility, Visa Asia Pacific; Bjoern Scharfen, senior director, Payment of Ticketing Product Line, Infineon Technologies and Matt Bright, Retail & Payment SIG chair, NFC Forum.