by Steve Atkins
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Contactless Intelligence announces finalists for 2012 Contactless & Mobile Awards

The global appetite for contactless technologies shows no sign of abating as the 2012 Contactless Intelligence Contactless & Mobile Awards (formally known as the Contactless Monkey Awards) honours achievements across a wide range of sectors and countries throughout Europe and further afield.

Now in its fifth year, the Contactless & Mobile Awards (this year sponsored by Visa Europe and Telefonica O2) has yet again attracted a record turnout, making it an important fixture in the contactless calendar. The finalists for the 2012 Contactless & Mobile Awards have now been announced and can be found below. The finalist details have been passed to the judging panel who are:

  • Wendy Atkins – Contactless Intelligence Editor [Head Judge]
  • Mark Austin – Visa Europe
  • Michel Barjansky – ex RATP
  • John Berry – European Commission (Research & Innovative Transport Systems)
  • Paul Chamberlain – Association of Convenience Stores
  • Kevin Farquharson – Smart Card Networking Forum
  • James Le Brocq – O2
  • Paul Naldrett – SIMalliance
  • Sirpa Nordlund – Mobey Forum
  • Samee Zafar – Edgar Dunn

“These are the people with the unenviable task of picking a winner from each category”, said Steve Atkins, CEO of Krowne Communications, the company behind Contactless Intelligence. “This year we have changed the categories slightly to reflect the growing spectrum of uses and implementations of contactless and NFC technology as you would expect from such a dynamic industry. The quality and quantity of entries reflect this dynamism. Narrowing the entries down to four finalists per category was very difficult. Now the really hard part is choosing a winner for each category. I don’t envy this year’s judges,” continued Atkins.

Following are the categories and the finalists;

Competitive Advantage.

Contactless / NFC technology, if utilized professionally, can give even a small company a huge advantage over a giant corporation. The judges are looking for evidence of competitive advantage within a business environment achieved through the use of Contactless / NFC technology. This category is open to any industry sector.

  • Narian Technologies – Narian NFC service (US/Global)
  • CocaCola – Contactless payment in mainstream vending (UK)
  • Impark – Contactless parking (Canada)
  • Proxama – MasterCard Mobile Reference Kit (Global)

Transportation and Ticketing.

Awarded for the best use of Contactless / NFC technology within the transportation and ticketing environment. Be it public transport or tickets for events, this award is aimed at those companies who have embraced the new Contactless / NFC technology to deliver their specific products to a mass audience.

  • Banca Commerciala Romana – Zambet BCR: contactless debit card with transport application in Bucharest (Romania)
  • City of Wrocklaw – Wrocklaw Urban card (Poland)
  • VDV – eTicket Germany: an interoperable e-ticket application for public transport (Germany)
  • NXP – Istanbulkart (Turkey)

Mobile Payment Application of the Year.

With so much energy going into NFC payment applications for mobile payment solutions, there is a vast number of payment apps available in the market; each with their own distinct characteristics. From mobile wallets to pure payment solutions, this category aims to reward one company for doing the most to bring mobile payments to the mass market.

  • Tagattitude – TagPay mobile money application (Africa)
  • Merchant360 – PatientID+: combined medical and payment NFC solution (USA)
  • Boku – BOKU Accounts Platform (US/Global)
  • Google – Google Wallet (US/Global)

Contactless / NFC Innovation of the Year.

This year has seen Contactless and NFC technology move beyond payments. A number of companies have embraced Contactless / NFC technology, be it with location marketing, museum guides, and even on-line note taking. We are looking for the Innovation of the year.

  • DeviceFidelity – In2Pay microSD solution for NFC (US/Global)
  • Qolpac – NFC and epackaging for medication (Europe)
  • eProvenance – NFC solution for monitoring wine (France/US)
  • AQ Corporation – NFC Active tag solution for customized mobile advertisements using digital signage (Korea)

Best Customer Experience.

Which company has done the most to deliver an exceptional customer experience through the use of Contactless / NFC technology? Are there any companies who are now bringing the Contactless / NFC experience within the reach of smaller businesses?  How did they do it? What were the results? Any finalist in this category needs to be able to back up the hype with real figures.

  • Clinton Cards – Rollout of NFC payment acceptance throughout all stores (UK)
  • Garanti Bank – “MONEY” card: the payment and loyalty card for Migros supermarkets (Turkey)
  • Openways – NFC room keys for Hotel Chains (Scandinavia)
  • LAKS – “Watch2Pay”: contactless payment using a watch (Hungary)

Loyalty.

What could be a better sector just waiting for Contactless / NFC technology than the loyalty industry? With so many loyalty cards out there today – all waiting to be integrated into a mobile phone – surely this industry sector is the one embracing new technology the most?

  • Kadona – NFC Service Platform for retailer BIPA (Austria)
  • Adelya – “Carte Magique”: Loyalty card for Nice residents (France)
  • K-Plus – K-Plussa card for use in the K-Group of stores (Finland)
  • SAS – “SAS Smart Pass”: NFC solution for frequent flyers (Sweden)

Public Domain.

The rise of Contactless / NFC technology hasn’t just hit the retail, mobile and financial community – it has also had a huge impact on the public domain. From health to local government, from education, to local services, this technology is being embraced and utilized like never before.

  • Connecthings – “Mobulles Paris”: Smart Mailbox Implementation (France)
  • WhileOnTheMove – “Daisy”: NFC enabled mobile solution for day cares, pre-schools and schools (Finland)
  • Smartran – “Active Points”: residents loyalty programme for leisure services (UK)
  • Fjord Nordics – World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 mobile application (Finland)

Best Marketing Campaign using Contactless / NFC Technology.

Smart posters, in-store endorsements, social networking, location marketing – this last year has seen, for possibly the first time, a roll-out of marketing campaigns from a number of marketing and advertising agencies who have embraced this new technology within the heart of their campaigns. It’s an exciting time and one that promises to deliver more and more.

  • EAT – “Quick Tap Treats”: UK’s first nationwide NFC retail loyalty programme (UK)
  • Horizon Media Agency – Halls OOH (Out Of Home) campaign in Chicago (US)
  • VOX Cinemas – Cinema Voucher Campaign (Dubai)
  • GO Outdoors – iPhone Discount Card App (UK)

Best Contactless / NFC Infrastructure.

It’s not always happening at the front end. Without a solid and reliable infrastructure in place, containing tags, registers, readers, POS terminals – you name it – nothing would happen. This time it’s the turn of the backend players to have the ability to win an award in their own right, for putting together a suitably impressive project, rollout or venture.

  • ViVOtech – Single-tap point-of-sale (POS) transaction (Global)
  • Greggs/Spire Payments – The largest contactless payment deployment in the retail sector by number of points of sale in Europe to date (UK)
  • VeriFone – VeriFone Taxi System in London (UK)
  • Proxama – Touchpoint platform (Global)

Contactless / NFC Eco-System.

Small-scale pilots are a thing of the past now. When it comes to Contactless / NFC technology, developers are thinking much bigger and better. Citywide projects are in place to bring the benefits of this technology to as many application areas as possible; payments, posters, tourist information services, public transportation and even parking – is there such a thing as the best Contactless / NFC eco-system project?

  • Connecthings – Large-scale deployment of contactless/NFC mobile services (Europe)
  • Glodyne Technoserve – “e-Shakti card”: ID and banking solution in Bahir (India)
  • Absa Bank – First NFC trial in S. Africa with EMV on handset (South Africa)
  • Mokipay – NFC based Mobile payment and loyalty platform (Lithuania)

There are also two further awards that Visa Europe will present on 26th April, where only the winners are announced; “The Visa payWave award for Business Leader of the Year” and “The Visa payWave award for Best Contactless Awareness and Education Campaign”.

“We are very pleased to be sponsoring the Contactless and Mobile Awards again in 2012. The increasing number and quality of nominations over the last five years is a great reflection of the  growth in the market place. There are now more than 31 million Visa contactless cards in Europe, and an expectation that by the end of 2012 that number will be in excess of 50 million. The acceptance side is also set for rapid growth through 2012, with plans from tier 1 retailers set to push the number of terminals by 50% over the course of the year.” said Mark Austin,  Head of Contactless at Visa Europe (Platinum Sponsors of the CMAs).

The winners of each categories will be announced at a Gala Dinner award ceremony on the 26th April at the London Hilton Tower Bridge Hotel, London, England.

Details about the Finalists, CMAs and how to attend the ceremony can be found at http://www.contactlessintelligence.com.