ABRFID to Deliver IoT RFID Award in August

This year, in addition to awards for Best Implementation and Personality of the Year, ABRFID will give cash prizes to the three best academic papers in Brazil.
Published: July 31, 2018

The Brazilian Association of the Radio Frequency Identification Industry (ABRFID) will deliver its 2018 IoT RFID Award next month, during the LATAM Retail Show event in São Paulo. New this year will be the Best of the Academy Award, which will recognize—with cash prizes—the best work carried out at Brazilian universities and, in some way, will favor companies that have implemented Internet of Things (IoT) and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies.

The IoT RFID Best of the Academy Award will give 1,500 Brazilian real ($403) for first place, 1,000 real ($268) for second place and 500 real ($134) for third place. The award will be conferred by entrepreneurs from companies associated with ABRFID, who act as manufacturers, developers and systems integrators of equipment, tags and solutions involving RFID and the Internet of Things (IoT). Registration will run until Aug. 10, and the awards will take place on Aug. 28 at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, at the LATAM Retail Show’s Central Arena.

ABRFID’s first IoT RFID Award ceremony, with the award winners and honorees, in 2017

To participate, a researcher must request a registration questionnaire via emailing [email protected]. After completing the questionnaire, a candidate must send the document to award coordinators at the same email address. The winners will have their papers published at RFID Journal Brazil.

In 2018, ABRFID will reward the best implementations of its members, according to criteria of originality and impact in the respective market segment. “The jury council for the selection of the awardees will be made up of professors from Brazilian universities, with recognized work in research and work on RFID and Internet of Things,” explains Professor Marcelo Lubaszewski, from UFRGS, who is coordinating this year’s award with Professor Renata Rampim.

This year’s edition has four categories, including the best implementations in Commerce 4.0, Production 4.0, and automation and innovation. The selected cases will be evaluated by a board of judges formed by professors from Brazilian universities, with recognized work in research, RFID and the IoT.

Kami Saidi, head of LATAM manufacturing and supply chain operations

The following professors will be on the board of judges: Fernando Rangel de Sousa, UFSC; Glauco Fontgalland, UFCG; Jean Louis Silva Santos, IFS; Marcelo Lubaszewski, UFRGS; Renata Rampim, UNICAMP; and Samuel Bloch da Silva, ITA. Last year, Hewlett-Packard‘s Kami Saidi was unanimously elected as the IoT RFID Personality of the Year. The award was honored by the board of ABRFID in recognition of Saidi’s pioneering contributions to the development and application of RFID in Brazil.

Thanks to Saidi’s vision, HP has adopted RFID from an innovative perspective in the printer production line in Sorocaba, and has encouraged dissemination of the knowledge acquired through the creation of the HP Center of Excellence in RFID, which has already trained nearly 1,000 professionals.

Saidi, who could not be present at the ceremony, was represented by Marcelo Pandini, a member of his team and an HP professional with a history of achievements in the world of RFID and IoT technologies. This year, ABRFID will be represented by its president, Reinaldo Andrade of Honeywell; its VP, Adriano Franki from Valid; Carlos Ribeiro of SmartX Technologies; Roger Davanso of CCRR; and Pedro Moreira, from SmartX.