By Bob Violino

Apr. 13, 2009—One of the guiding principles of Istanbul's Sabanci University is innovation. The private, independent institution was founded in 1994 under the direction of the Sabanci Foundation, one of Turkey's leading family-run foundations. The foundation is part of the Sabanci Group, an organization comprising 68 companies, many of which are market leaders in a variety of sectors, including automotive, energy, financial services, food, retailing and textiles.

Innovation is reflected in Sabanci University's interdisciplinary educational infrastructure, designed to create and disseminate knowledge, as well as its state-of-the-art wireless campus, with more than 11,000 Internet connection points; the university distributes computers to each of its 3,600 students. Now it's turning to radio frequency identification technology to improve the quality of campus life.

Last year, Sabanci University launched a campus-wide project known as Sabanci University Card (SUCARD), using RFID to speed up the checkout process at various campus establishments, as well as for security and access control.

In early fall 2008, Sabanci University launched a campus-wide project known as Sabanci University Card (SUCARD), in which it began using RFID to speed up the checkout process at various campus establishments, as well as for security and access control. The university currently employs the system for payments at its main restaurant, for access to a shuttle bus service and to control entry to science laboratories. It also has plans to expand the technology's use to other areas.