New Business Ideas: Wireless Wonders

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is set to experience big growth over the next five years, according to analysts. Judging by the new innovative business ideas powered by the RFID technology featured below, it’s not hard to see why.

To put it simply, RFID uses tiny computer chips to track and identify items wirelessly. Let’s have a look at some interesting RFID business ideas we’ve seen around the world lately:

• Radianse (pictured above) is an expert in indoor positioning solutions using RFID to locate and associate equipment and people in hospitals. The Radianse single-use RFID tag can be slipped onto a patient’s ID wrist band. Patients can be located instantly, and depending on the situation, hospital transport can be dispatched to the patient’s exact location.

• T-Systems International GmbH has developed an e-ticketing system in collaboration with the German Mass Transit Authority based on RFID technology. It consists of a semiconductor-based smart card which allows passengers to pass by a card reader without having to swipe or insert their cards into the device. Convenient for rush-hour commuters.

• Tokyo-based company TechFirm is offering a service that connects consumers and small retailers using RFID. You can “bookmark” your favorite stores by showing your RFID-chipped phones to RFID readers installed in the store. Using a dedicated mobile application, information about all your “bookmarked” stores can be sent wirelessly to you. This way, you won’t miss out on that big sale.

• Also in Japan, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed a technology that combines RFID tags and cameras for controlling elevators. With their technology, elevators don’t make people wait for them. Instead, they wait for people as they can now tell if a person wanted to use an elevator or was just walking past the elevator.

What new, radical RFID wireless business ideas can you think of?

* * * * *

This New Business Ideas Report is compiled specially for Small Business Trends from the editors of CoolBusinessIdeas.com.