For Krowne, last week was one of the busiest of the year. With almost constant communication between the UK and Germany (and a few other places too), the decisions concerning the last four finalists for 11 categories in this years Contactless & Mobile Awards have been made. Not an easy choice this year and far from smooth sailing. 

The awards represent a real promotional springboard and give the winners a reputation and credibility for their efforts within the industry. The competition is open to all implemented contactless applications within the relevant sectors, regardless of geographic region or size of corporation. Despite being a UK-based event nominees are evenly represented world wide; 2014 saw more nominees per region than ever before, with 13% based in the UK, 39% based in mainland Europe, and 48% Rest of World.

There are 11 categories that are judged by a panel of industry experts, 1 category is voted for by the industry and 2 categories are selected by Visa Europe – the winners are being announced at a prestigious evening ceremony organized in London following the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference on 29th April 2014. The finalists’ 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
• Paul Crutchley – GSMA
• John Devlin – ABI Research
• Kevin Farquharson – Smart Card Networking Forum
• Kristian T. Sørensen  – Mobey Forum
• Frédéric Vasnier – SIMalliance
• Samee Zafar – Edgar Dunn

Without further ado, the following are the categories and the finalists that are being presented to the judges;

1. Contactless Payment Collaboration
A new one for 2014! More commentators are talking about the need for effective partnerships when it comes to contactless payments; be it collaborations between MNOs, banks, retailers, third parties etc. After all, we know that nobody can make the payment industry work in isolation. So, in the spirit of this year’s Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference and its focus on ‘Learning from Experience’, we are looking for the company that has done the most to foster collaboration between different players in the contactless payment value chain. Who’s up for working well with others?

• Leumi Card Ltd (Israel) – Leumi card wallet
• Bank Polski (Poland) – PayWave technology implementation
• Austria Card (Austria) – Mobile wallet integration
• VeriFone (USA) – Ride with points

2. Retail
Another new one for 2014! The retail industry is the front line for all consumer oriented technology innovation. In this category, we are rewarding retailers that embrace technology to improve the customer experience. From digital signage to virtual storefronts to smart mobile payment systems; in the retail category, the judges are looking for forward looking, integrated solutions that take shopping to the next level.

• Heidi.com (Switzerland) – Digital signage with mobile purchasing
• Grassfish (Austria) – VE CONNECT Interactive vending
• Proxama (UK) – NFC usage at UK Argos stores
• Pyramid IT (Germany) – Interactive shopping kiosk at M&S

3. 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.

• Road & Transportation Authority (UAE) – Smart card for transport
• Transport for London (UK) – Contactless payment cards in London
• ECEBS/SPT (UK) – Bramble transport and payment card for SPT
• Vix Technology (South Africa) – Vix eBrio fare collection system

4. Mobile Payment
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.

• Boppl (UK) – Boppl (mobile pre-order and payment hospitality service)
• BBVA (Spain) – BBVA mobile wallet
• Turkcell (Turkey) – Turkcell mobile wallet
• Yapital (Luxembourg) – Yapital mobile payment solution

5. Innovation
Contactless and NFC technology is moving beyond payment to new applications, be it location marketing, museum guides, or online note taking. In this category, we are rewarding innovative uses of NFC and contactless technology.

• HDB Technology (France) – CLAP the new information & communication platform
• Selinko (Belgium) – Product authentication via NFC
• Sequent (USA) – Sequent Open Wallet Platform
• QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited (UK) – QS Tap

6. Customer Experience
Awarded for the most convenient use of contactless / NFC technology creating a great customer experience. 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.

• Citi Bank (Czech Republic) – Micro tags
• UBS Switzerland (Switzerland) – UBS Access Card and Access Card Display
• RedeProtege (Brazil) – PagTaxi – Taxi contactless payment
• Bon-Ton/Thinaire (USA) – Bon-Ton Shoe Salons with NFC

7. 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?

• Carrot rewards/NXP (Bangkok) – Carrot Rewards for Rabbit card
• Escher (Ireland) – P2P NFC Mobile Loyalty
• Proxama (UK) – NFC and BLE loyalty solutions
• Wooshping/Nokia (UK) – Tap for Tunes

8. Public Domain
NFC and contactless technology enables innovative and convenient public sector applications. From health to local government, from education to electronic services – in this category we award successful implementation in the public domain.

• Vix Technology (USA) – UTA/FAREPAY
• Central College Nottingham (UK) – NFC posters for EFL learning
• eKiosk (Germany) – Interactive eGovernment terminal
• PetHub (USA) – NFC tags for dogs

9. Marketing Campaign
Smart posters, in-store endorsements, social networking, location marketing – a number of marketing and advertising agencies have embraced NFC technology within the heart of their campaigns. It’s an exciting time and this category rewards both agencies and clients who have taken the leap and used NFC technology to market their products to the public.

• MoLo (UK) – NFC/QR code treasure hunts
• Wooshping/Nokia (UK) – Smart Appvent Calendar
• Thinaire/Unilever (USA) – Unilever’s Good Humor “Share The Love” campaign
• Tapit/Google (Australia) – Google Campaign

10. Infrastructure
Without a solid and reliable infrastructure in place, containing tags, registers, readers and POS terminals, NFC and contactless implementation would fail. In this category, we are looking for backend players with a track record of suitably impressive projects, rollouts or ventures.

• Phaymobile (Turkey) – TSMxpert
• ATM/Smarting (Spain) – Secure Card Abstraction Layer (SCAL) enabling migration
• Ibrahim Serhat BULUT (Turkey) – All-in-Mobile
• AIRTAG (France) – AIRPASS SDK solution

11. Eco System
Small-scale pilots have made way for company-, city- or even country-sized projects, bringing together many application areas and user experiences. Payments, posters, tourist information services, public transportation and even parking – in this category we award the efforts behind those contactless / NFC eco systems. This category is being sponsored by Samsung Semiconductor Europe.

• Bell ID (The Netherlands) – Secure Element in the cloud
• ICS (The Netherlands) – NFC Mobile Payments
• Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka (Czech Republic) – mPO2S
• Connecthings (France) – MonGroom project – Grenoble

New for 2014 are two categories; ‘Contactless Payment Collaboration’ and ‘Retail’. Contactless Intelligence was keen to create these two new categories because we felt that these are two intrinsic areas that showcase what it takes to bring contactless and NFC technology to the general public. Both categories represent areas that are vital to the mainstream adoption of contactless technology.

Industry Choice Award 

Started last year and back by popular demand, the Contactless Intelligence ‘Industry Choice Award’ will be opened on April 7th 2014 and run for ten days. The nominees of this award are the finalists in the eleven categories outlined in this years CMAs plus 4 runner ups that the judges decided should be singled out for special recognition. The additional four nominees are:

• Ensygnia (UK) – Onescan (secure mobile payment service solution)
• Všeobecná úverová banka (Slovakia) – VISA Inspire Wave 2 Pay (micro tags for mobile payment)
• Barclays (UK) – PingIt (mobile application for money transfers)
• Česká spořitelna (Czech Republic) – Contactless payment cards (highest average contactless spend in region)

Voted for by the industry at http://www.contactlessintelligence.com, this award allows the entrants mobile, NFC and contactless industry to vote on who they think should get recognition. Voting starts on the 7th April and finishes on the 17th April 2014. The winner will be announced on the 29th April, during the Contactless Intelligence Spring Conference Awards Gala.

Visa Europe will also present the winners of two further awards on 29th April: The ‘Visa payWave Award for Business Leader of the Year’ and the ‘Visa payWave Award for Best Contactless Awareness and Education Campaign’. “Visa is delighted to be sponsoring the Contactless and Mobile Awards again in 2014 and we are excited by the increase in the quantity and variety of nominations this year and in the level of innovation in mobile payments. During the past year we have witnessed a major transformation in the world of payments. Visa contactless payments are now available in twice as many European countries as this time last year and consumers have become increasingly comfortable using the technology, making over 340 million transactions in the past 12 months. We should not think the work is finished though and the next two to three years will be critical to the success of both contactless and mobile contactless. We all need to continue enhancing consumer awareness and extending availability  to achieve the vision of a ubiquitous contactless solution.” said Mark Austin, Director of Contactless at Visa Europe (Platinum Sponsors of the CMAs).”

The winners of each category will be announced at a Gala Dinner award ceremony on the 29th April at the London Hilton Tower Bridge Hotel, London, UK.  For details on attending the ceremony, please visit this link here. Over the next few weeks we will be giving out further details on each finalist and their application right here, on the Contactless Intelligence site, so please stay tuned!