Jul 27, 2006The Auto-ID Labs at MIT and Fudan University and the RFID Lab at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation (CASIA) will host the third RFID Academic Convocation at CASIA in Beijing on Oct. 30 and 31. The gathering brings together leading RFID researchers and adopters from around the world to present papers on their work and foster collaboration with RFID vendors, regulators and end users.
The theme of this convocation is "RFID and Auto-ID in China." Topics to be covered include RFID and sensors, RFID network hardware and software, and RFID applications in the health and life sciences.
"The third RFID Academic Convocation will provide attendees and participants with the chance to learn about opportunities to develop and apply RFID products in China," says Stephen Miles, an MIT researcher who is cochairing the event with Hao Min of the Auto-ID Labs at Fudan University and Yu Liu of CASIA's RFID Lab.
One reason the event is being held in China is many believe the country will play an important role in the adoption of RFID. That's because China is a major manufacturing center, and tags can be placed on goods in China and tracked through the global supply chain.
"The success of RFID and auto-ID technology with retailers is shifting the focus upstream in the supply chain to manufacturing," says Tao Lin, director of auto-ID infrastructure at SAP Research. "As a great percentage of manufacturers are in China, companies such as SAP are looking for opportunities to explore RFID/Auto-ID based business applications with the manufacture in China."
RFID researchers are encouraged to submit papers by Aug. 30. The conference committee will evaluate the papers and by Sept. 30 will inform those who made submissions if their paper was accepted. All submitted papers will be considered for possible publication in a special issue of ACTA Automatica Sinica, an academic periodical affiliated with CASIA and the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA).
The first RFID Academic Convocation was held at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. It attracted some 100 end users and academics and identified areas where funding is needed for critical research (see Millions Required for RFID Research).
The second RFID Academic Convocation was held in Las Vegas in May, in conjunction with RFID journal LIVE!, RFID journal's fourth annual conference and exhibition. During that gathering, participants identified nine specific RFID research projects and assigned a researcher to spearhead the effort in each area (see Research Initiatives Emerge From Academic Convocation). The Conference Committee is led by cochairs Steve Miles, John Williams, director of the Auto-ID Labs at MIT and Bill Hardgrave, director of the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas.
This conference will provide an opportunity for the exchange of RFID and auto-ID research, experience, challenges and strategy with leading suppliers and regulators from China. "We are planning to use the research projects identified during prior RFID Convocations to frame collaboration opportunities among RFID researchers, vendors and end users," says Miles. "I hope we'll receive papers from researchers who haven't participated before, as we want to widen the net and promote research projects worldwide."
