1 Introduction
In our quest for an innovative issue, we bumped into the technology of RFID. Radio
Frequency Identification is considered by some to emerge as one of the most pervasive
technologies in history. As shown in the graph below, this topic has also become a hot item in
today’s business media.
Although RFID is still in its infancy, it has potential to finally appear in our every day
life. Because the technology is rapidly evolving at present, the amount of research and new
applications is constantly increasing.
However, the impact of this new technology is currently causing a massive debate.
While industrialists hope that the use of RFID will bring about great benefits, others warn
against the dangers, especially the potential violation of privacy. Nevertheless, all participants of the discussion seem to agree that huge changes will be brought about by new RFID
applications. Given that we already were introduced to RFID in one of our previous courses, it
seemed to us that this would be the perfect opportunity to explore this matter in depth. We
also discovered that an American company ‘Alien Technology’ won an innovation award in
2005 for their efforts to manufacture a process that reduces cost of RFID tags. This is another
great example of the fact that the RFID technology is booming these days.
In this paper, we will initially focus on the development and the implementation of
RFID. Next, we will take a look at the economic impact of this technology and analyse its
strengths and weaknesses. During our reflection, we will also take into account the critical
attitudes towards this innovative appliance.
1 What is RFID?
1.1 An innovative technology
Radio Frequency Identification technolo ...