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CARTES in Asia – the Most Important Platform for the ID Industry to Converge
Thursday 04. November 2010 - Enormous Opportunities for Identification Industry in Dynamic Asia Pacific Region
The global identification industry is booming, no more so than in Asia Pacific where government, healthcare and transportation providers are faced with identifying and verifying millions of people. To address this demand CARTES in Asia exhibition and conference will be held for a second year running at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong, 29 to 31 March 2011. This event is the platform for professionals across APAC to meet global suppliers and learn about industry developments in smart technologies and digital security.
With a CAGR value of 11.7% between 2009-14, the global market for personal ID technologies is forecast to reach US$10.5 billion by 2014, according to a study by Pira International. With the highest population density in the world, Asia Pacific is undoubtedly driving this growth. As well as adopting the successful initiatives from the West, industries in this region are developing their own systems to cope with different needs.
Established markets such as Australia, parts of mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have all embraced ID technology. Citizens in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore already carry biometric ID cards, which need to be updated and renewed regularly. In many cities across China including Hong Kong, residents use smart cards to pay for transport and the Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Hunan is set to install a new biometric security system as part of a US$270 million expansion plan to ensure greater airport security.
Singapore uses smart assets to manage traffic congestion and commuters in Japan use one card to pay fares for all transport links. In Malaysia smart cards hold personal data and a thumbprint, and can also be used to pay road tolls and access ATM machines.
Just this month (October 2010), Citibank Australia announced its decision to apply a biometric voice identification system to identify individuals and prevent fraud. Fingerprint scanning has become an increasingly useful security tool in pubs and nightclubs, with more than 14 venues throughout the country employing it.
Countries such as India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are experiencing fast economic growth. As more and more citizens become upwardly mobile and move into urban areas, the need for biometric, identification, authentication and physical and logical access control continues to grow.
India is forging ahead in the emerging markets. One of Indias biggest projects is the governments initiative to collect fingerprint and iris scans from all 1.1 billion residents to store in a massive central database.
With GDP growing by a record 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, Thailand is another country with huge opportunities. Thailands government recently (October 2010) announced that their biggest priority was to review their smart ID cards. The Interior Ministry plans to investigate and invest heavily into finding a solution to their current card situation where millions of people are still using temporary cards.
Meanwhile, Indonesia ranked 44 out of 139 countries in the World Economic Forums 2010-11 Global Competitiveness Index – up 10 places from last year and the government plans to implement a single identity number (NIK) by December 2011.
Just last year the Philippines launched their first e-passport and have a credit card-sized ID card for registered aliens replacing the paper-based version. The ID card has an embedded computer chip with biometric security features which can be updated electronically.
Vietnam could be next. In the second quarter of 2010, the economy had a year-on-year growth in GDP rising to 6.40 percent from the first quarter’s 5.83 percent, according to the country’s General Statistics Office. A smart card was piloted on two bus routes in the capital, Ho Chi Minh, earlier this year (March 2010) and not every citizen in Vietnam has an ID card yet so the potential is huge.
Earlier this year (March 2010), Acuity Market Intelligence predicted that 88% of all passports issued in 2014 will be electronic passports. ePassports currently account for 57% of all passports issued so the opportunities in Asia are vast. Acuity also stated that the associated ePassport enrollment, verification, and authentication equipment will need to be continually upgraded because of the speed of innovation and the need to always be one step ahead of security threats.
Michael Weatherseed, Director of Security Events, Comexposium, said: “APAC is the worlds most dynamic region just now. CARTES in Asia is the place for professionals from the government, transport, telecoms, administrative, security and retail industries to discuss the opportunities here and find out about new trends. Suppliers from all over the world including Cross Match (Germany), TRUEB (Switzerland) and Smartmatic (Philippines), associations such as the Security Industry Association and Smart Card Alliance, authorities and local agencies have already signed up for this exciting event.”
The two and half day event and conference will also have a number of seminars dedicated to identification. Topics include transportation, credential and e-documents, fraud prevention and health and e-services.
Sources: Retail in Asia, Jakarta Globe, ZDNet, Bangkok Post, Thanhnien News
About CARTES in Asia
Date:
29-31 March 2011
Opening times:
29 March – 2.30pm to 5.30pm
30 & 31 March – 9.30am to 5.30pm
Place:
Hong Kong – AsiaWorld-Expo
Organiser:
Comexposium
Website:
http://www.cartes-asia.com
For trade visitors only
CARTES in Asia is a regional Exhibition for the APAC market and a high-level Congress covering digital security and smart technologies.
For its first edition in March 2010, CARTES in Asia brought together 116 exhibitors from the smart card and digital security industry and took its place among the major events dedicated to smart technologies worldwide. 2813 visitors from banks, telecoms, administration, IT security and retail sectors, had the opportunity to discover innovative technologies for card manufacturing, authentication solutions, payment solutions, mobile security and other innovative technical solutions.