CARTES 2008 to focus on e-transactions and USA

Following the focus on Japan in 2007, the United States will be this year’s country under the spotlight at CARTES & IDentification. The USA is a pioneer in this field in terms of transport, payment, exchanges and loyalty applications.

The USA leads in the field of contactless technology — more particularly its deployment via multiple applications, such as electronic documents or payment cards. Besides, the USA is actively involved in the secure electronic-transactions market and has, as a result, tended to get other players to adopt American standards as the new technological standards of reference.

The United States will be spotlighted during the congress and will have a dedicated pavilion in the heart of the trade fair. There will also be a focus on various activities related to the US market, together with the presence of major decision makers linked to the American market.

CARTES 2008 is giving pride of place to a particularly dynamic sector — identification. This was demonstrated last year by the successful launch of the IDentification event, which runs alongside CARTES. IDentification is dedicated to secure technology and biometrics. It will bring together all the players offering solutions and technology linked to biometrics, document security, authentication, physical or logic access control, encryption, RFID, and e-government procedures.

Following its successful introduction in 2007, CARTES & Identification 2008 will once again feature a Mobile Transaction TechZone, held in partnership with the NFC Forum. Boosted by the development of contactless and multi-application technology, mobile transactions are giving the various players new applications and new perspectives — NFC, RFID, M2M, transaction security and kiosk technology, for example. The following companies participated in this Mobile Transaction TechZone in 2007: Innovision, Legic, MasterCard, Nexpert, Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, Stolpan, Toppan Printing and USA Technologies.

The three-day Congress that is held during the event is an unrivalled source of information and know-how, featuring many presentations of international innovations. All the subjects covered relate to chip cards or identification, providing a broad and accurate view of the market. The conferences present today's most innovative projects and serve as a platform for interchange and contact between more than 1,700 visitors and speakers. The opening World Card Summit conference will also welcome an exceptional line-up of keynote speakers sharing their points of view and their visions of the market.

The Sesames Awards 2007 are open to all companies in relevant sectors, be they CARTES & IDentification exhibitors or not. The Awards are an exceptional tool for the promotion of innovative projects, and crown, in a very concrete way, several years of R&D effort. The Awards are decided by a jury of experts, and will be given at a prestigious ceremony in Paris on the day before the opening of CARTES & IDentification 2008. Products presented by the finalists will be on display in the Sesames Area located in the heart of the trade fair.

About CARTES

CARTES & IDentification is the leading trade show for digital security and smart-card technology. The 2008 event will be held from 4 to 6 November, at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre, which is to the north of Paris (France).

For further information, please contact :

French Technology Press Bureau
21 Grosvenor Place, LONDON
SW1X 7TB
Tel: +44 (0) 207 235 5330
contact.ftpb@ubifrance.fr