21.02.2013 -

Sometimes big ideas come from ordinary experiences and the desire to solve everyday problems. This is exactly what happened to the founder of Card Tech, Fabrizio Borracci, after the unfortunate cloning of his credit card, a hazard that causes no small amount of worry to us all.

 

Cash payments are on the decrease worldwide, and cards are widely becoming the most used and practical alternative. The downside is that fraud and scams are also increasing: identity theft and the illicit use of personal data are a growing criminal phenomenon. According to the last report by the Observatory on Credit Fraud, there were about 22,100 such cases in Italy in 2011. When one is the victim of such scams, the biggest problem is actually realizing it: fraud is discovered within the first six months in only one out of four cases, while 28.1% of cases are discovered after six months to two years.

 

But what it one could design a clone-proof card, linked unequivocally to its owner, as unique and impossible to copy as only fingerprints are? And what if we could afford the luxury of forgetting pin numbers, passwords, and logins without having to come up with tricks to secretly memorize such data, and preventing embarrassing episodes of temporary memory loss while waiting in line at the cashier?

 

Today Card Tech, a small Udine-based firm, offers this cutting-edge technology: a smart card with a biometric security device, a recognition sensor, and a fingerprint matching system. By inserting the card in a reader or POS, the electronic device obtains the necessary energy for the sensor and central CPU to work together, making it possible to compare the digital print recorded by the micro-processor with the one saved in the device's memory: all at a competitive price and in a card only 0.7 millimetres thick.

 

Simple, intuitive, personalized, and safe. How did we get there? In 2010 Card Tech participated in a technical workshop organized by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) desk at Trieste's AREA Science Park and became aware of its services, which include preparing technology requests and offers to search for innovative solutions and promote products and processes in a European framework, search for technological and commercial partners, and provide assistance for participating in technological intermediation events and missions.

 

In order to make the prototype a reality, Card Tech was looking for a partner that developed a biometric sensor with the required thickness, flexibility, power consumption, and performance characteristics. No one had yet been able to implement this technology in a card of less than 1 millimetre in thickness. Many companies were converging towards the right technological solutions, especially in France and the United States, and beating them to the finish line would have been a major advantage in a market that produces 6 million cards per year, with an expansion rate of 3-4%.

 

"Idex ASA was a fundamental partner for us. Meeting them thanks to EEN allowed us to take a key step forward towards the production of this project", says Paolo Bean, director for marketing and sales, in re-tracing the steps of this successful alliance. Card Tech accessed the BBS international database that collects 23,000 detailed, up-to-date requests and offers for R&D partnerships and technology and identified a potential partner. With the support of AREA it prepared and sent an expression of interest to the local EEN desk.

 

This is when the technology match took place: Idex ASA from Fornebu in Norway develops thin, flexible, new generation sensors suitable for the smart card project, and stepped forward as an ideal supplier. Thanks to EEN staff, the two partners got in touch: a telephone conference made it possible to reach an agreement on technological aspects and market potential. This initial virtual encounter confirmed that the Norwegian partner had both the technology and the know-how to complement Card Tech's. A visit to company headquarters in Norway led to a technological partnership agreement for a test phase to assess the compatibility of the two technologies. After a few months, the two companies were able to jointly present a prototype during specialized trade fairs in Paris and the United States: the internationally patented Pinkey Smart card was ready to be unveiled to the public at large through demo kits.

 

The collaborative effort continues in order to design a standard ISO card and obtain international certification. This will make access to bank markets possible with a wealth of applications: ATM card, credit card, debit card, home banking, electronic payments, and more. As Australian payment circuits and Middle Eastern government agencies are showing interest in the product, another family of applications is being developed: ID Solutions, useful when authentication can serve as a certain identification method for agencies, public authorities,  and governments (ID cards and driver's licenses). Using the same technology on other devices, such as PDAs, will pave the way for additional applications that will provide security and identification systems using biometry and radio frequencies: password management, physical access control systems, identification, data exchange, and the archival of documents.

 

"Finding a reliable partner with the right skills and experience with a frontier technology explored by only a handful of firms in the world was a major challenge for us," - stresses Card Tech President Fabrizio Borracci.  Thanks to continued collaboration with EEN, new developments undoubtedly await Card and its innovative products.  That's something we can all sign off on… with our prints!