Startup Seeks to Kick-start RFID in Trinidad

However, Sood says, Trinidad and Tobago is looking to grow its economy beyond oil and gas, and has its sights set on information technology. "The country wants to transform a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy," he states, "and is looking at new applications and tools that they could export—software tools, for example. RFIDTT is trying to do that with RFID."

In addition to partnering with MRAL, RFIDTT is working closely with the Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Co. (e Teck), a government-created enterprise focused on developing new businesses, including those in information and communications technologies.

Dookheran says there are plenty of opportunities for RFID's use in Trinidad and Tobago. Last month, he says, RFIDTT held its first seminar, inviting representatives from both the public and private sector. "This was an opportunity for them to sit in a seminar and, for the first time, hear about the potential of RFID," Dookheran says. "We asked the various organizations about the interests they had with regards to using RFID. The most frequent [application] mentioned was asset management, but there were others, such as vehicle registration and health care."

Sood predicts similar demand. "The kinds of projects we expect to see initially will probably all be in public sector, such as in the departments of transportation, health care, and oil and gas," he says. "But there is a wide variety of interest for RFID in Trinidad. They have the same economic drivers as elsewhere. Budgets are being cut, and organizations need to save money and optimize their processes. The RFID component can help them rethink their processes and find new ways to save."

Since the seminar, RFIDTT executives have been following up with attendees. What's more, the company has also met with the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, the agency responsible for regulating communications in the country, to discuss RFID frequencies and regulations. Because the country is in the same region of the world as Canada and the United States, Dookheran says, it will leverage the same RFID frequencies those nations use, such as the 915 MHz ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) band utilized for EPC Gen 2 RFID tags and interrogators.