10th ID WORLD International Congress draws acclaim from delegates across six continents

Innovation, vision and debate around today's most burning issues in the auto ID industry, dominated the forward-thinking theme of the celebratory 10th edition of the ID WORLD International Congress held in Milan on November 2 to 4, 2011. The world-class, premier industry event saw dignitaries and luminaries from six continents, including high-ranking government representatives and 67 leading CEOs, speaking during the conferences, convene to share their future goals, current achievements and change-making policies - providing the synthesis of the vision and the experiences already shared over the past 10 years, and setting a path for the future.

ID WORLD's 10th annual summit closed today with delegates endorsing a series of initiatives which will give the community an even stronger platform from which it can build partnerships and develop innovative solutions in addressing 21st century identification challenges and opportunities. Closing a decade of live debate supporting the ID Community's investigation, the event expressed a call for the auto ID industry to renew efforts to develop, standardize and leverage on both emerging and traditional forms of ID technologies, as the world's most high-profile gathering on identity related matters saw government and end-user representation grow to unprecedented levels.

The three-day meeting (November 2 to November 4) which brought together decision makers from the public and private sectors, addressed a range of issues including disruptive technologies and the reshaping of the auto ID industry in the light of recent large scale deployments of the newest identity schemes in the global market.

"Over the last 10 years, we discovered giving an identity to objects is useful and that giving a strong identity to people is necessary. Without identity of people and objects property would not exist, nor would it be possible to dream and work for a society wanting to embrace all human beings and include them in its social schemes," said Sophie B. de la Giroday, President of Wise Media. "Auto ID technologies are ready for massive adoption and gigantic projects show the way more and more tangibly, as we head towards universal strong identification of people and scenarios of ubiquitous intelligence," she added. "Nevertheless an enormous effort still needs to be made at a standardization, legislative and integration level."

Once again ID WORLD demonstrated its industry dominance with a global audience of government representatives, technology end-users, vendors and integrators - all interested in the fields of security, mobility and traceability - converging on Milan for the 10th annual thought leadership symposium on automatic identification. The ID WORLD Conference highlighted the recent paradigm changes in addressing identity related issues that have become technologically viable and that are coming of age with the recent large scale projects deployed around the world. Some of the most prominent representatives of these projects, such as R.S. Sharma Director General of India's UIDAI and Suvi Lindén, Special Envoy - UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development ITU, illustrated challenges that need to be addressed, while industry experts commented on the far-reaching implications that are set to reshape the auto ID industry and its business.

Special initiatives and 27 conferences organized in streams, enabled attendees to understand current progress and the specific ramifications of auto ID adoption in the different verticals, as well as the current market outlook for industry-developed solutions. Unprecedented government representation at ministerial and state secretary level from around the world, was applauded by key guests, who referred to the community gathering in Milan as the ‘United Nations of Digital Identity'. Over the three days, 67 Chief Executive Officers and Presidents from the industry presented their vision and shared their knowledge, offering thought-leadership to the international ID community present in Milan - stretching from Asia and Europe to North and South America, and from the Middle East to Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
ID WORLD 2011 illustrated how identity schemes are being specifically interpreted in developed, emerging and under-developed countries. A special focus was given to social inclusion initiatives, where auto ID is playing an increasingly important role. These topics in particular drew plaudits from some leading industry figures participating in the event, describing ID WORLD as: ‘A gathering of though leaders and a community of goodwill' and ‘The best place for global networking in ID'.

On the opening day of the event, a strategic partnership was announced between Wise Media, the international consulting firm serving public and private organizations and founder of ID WORLD Events, and Mesago Messe Frankfurt, affiliate of world leading event company Messe Frankfurt with a presence in more than 150 countries, to further expand the reach of the ID WORLD initiative beyond its decade-long investigation and successful track record.

As the ID Revolution community celebrates the first decade since the ID World International Congress started bringing together visionaries, decision makers and opinion leaders of the ID Revolution, the event will continue in its drive to foster business growth, end-user adoption and innovative progress. The two components for the industry to grow and which are at the core of ID WORLD's raison d'être, are a profound understanding of the technology and applications and secondly, good connections with the right people in the industry.
With 107 exhibitors in 2011, ID WORLD confirmed its position as the must-attend event for executives involved in the ID Revolution, offering the most complete dedicated showcase of state-of-the-art components and solutions based on automatic identification technologies.