Preparatory Committee of International Identification Code Industry Alliance (ICA) was established in Singapore

From October 10-12, the "AIM Connect Asia 2023" conference was held at the Suntec City Convention Center in Singapore. Heads of international standards bodies and industry organizations such as the Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility (AIM Global, AIM Asia), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), China Air Transport Association (CATA), Zhongguancun Industry Two-dimensional Code Technology Research Institute (ZIIOT), Optical Society of America (OSA), Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), Global Standards 1 (GS1), etc., famous research institutes such as the National Center for Sustainable Development Center of USA (NCSD), Tsinghua University, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SimTech), University of Macau, Southern University of Science and Technology, etc. and global leading companies in the field of automatic identification such as Rohde & Schwarz, Zebra, EM Microelectronics, Avery Dennison, etc. and experts in the field of automatic recognition participated in the conference in live and video ways, and jointly conducted in-depth discussions and deep dialogues around RFID, barcode/two-dimensional code, Internet of Things, blockchain, meta-universe, smart city, network security and other topics. 

At the opening ceremony, the Preparatory Committee for International Identification Code Industry Alliance (ICA) was established. Headquartered in Singapore, ICA is a professional international organization in the field of digital identification, which is voluntarily formed by relevant industry associations, backbone enterprises, standardization organizations, professionals and international organizations in various fields. With the purpose of "Sharing, Green and Sustainable", ICA aims to actively promote the orderly development of digital industries in various countries, coordinate the formulation of unified international standards for digital identification, build an international cooperation platform for relevant countries to carry out in-depth cooperation in digital technology and promote the development of digital economy, and thereby facilitate the interconnection of international digital standards. All of the participants witnessed the establishment of the ICA Preparatory Committee.

Zhang Chao, president of ZIIOT and Secretary-General of ICA Interim Central Secretariat, said that since the birth of automatic identification and data acquisition technology in the 1970s, AIDC has been developing in a way of collaborative development of technology and application. From the traditional retail industry to the supply chain manufacturing industry, the identification code uses AIDC technology to realize the information exchange between business partners, and the unification and standardization of the identification code is the cornerstone of information circulation. In recent years, AIDC technology, especially the application of two-dimensional code technology in all walks of life, has posed new challenges to the standardization of identification codes and AIDC technology. The application objects of identification code include not only traditional physical objects, but also virtual objects. It not only involves the exchange of information between business partners, but also involves the information acquisition of industry stakeholders and the public. The identification code is not only a code, but also begins to serve as the entrance of information. At the same time, there is the reality that a variety of identification codes coexist.

How to adapt to the new information exchange requirements and how to realize the interconnection and cooperative sharing among different identification systems have become the common challenge of AIDC. In order to address these challenges, relevant institutions of various countries jointly launched an alliance with identification code as the core cooperation goal, whose goal is to achieve the interconnection and collaboration of multiple mainstream international identification code systems such as MA Identification Code System, and jointly build the foundation stone of the digital economy and digital society.

At present, the International Identification Code Industry Alliance (ICA) is receiving applications for founding members of the alliance, recommendations for leading members of the alliance, and applications for the establishment of technical committees around the world. ICA members will play a key role in the construction of international standards for digital identification, have face-to-face exchanges with the world's top experts, scholars, entrepreneurs, and celebrities to discuss digital development plans, and have the opportunity to prioritize to become a digital identity code issuing agency, use digital identity as a starting point to promote the global digital transformation in various fields.

During the conference, the "50th Anniversary Celebration of AIM" and the establishment ceremony of the AIM Asia’s Board of Directors were also held, and the participants witnessed the key moments and achievements of AIM over the past 50 years.