C- RFID/USN Korea 2008 international exhibition was held right here in Seoul, Atlantic Hall at COEX. The exhibitors itself were about 160 people and there were 450 booths and 35,000 visitors who came to visit RFID/USN Korea.

M- What kind of applications were they showing

C- This year, there were high in medical applications and agriculture, that was so much on transportation because it already hit the big time in Korea. Genuine product confirmation services was on the high peak.

M- I've heard about that. It is about how to track genuine beef from its original home.

C- Exactly, it comes from this American beef crisis we just dealt with. So basically we're tracking cows, and plants, and every single grain of sand.

M - Not only that but you also said they have a lot of medical applications

C- Yes, now the ubiquitous sensor networks, or as we call them, USN. They will be able to locate any RFID chips in real time. And if a natural disaster happens, these systems could be very helpful rescue efforts. Both by tagging relief supplies and by having people tagged before disaster strikes.

Medical wise, the patients can be constantly monitored in real time with the RFID technology and ubiquitous health care technology. Some standardization of the medical law should be supported in order for that to happen. The RFID will allow the patients to have ubiquitous health care in the near future.

M- Do you think that that will actually catch on

C- Cost-wise the chips itself has gone down.

M- They're only about five cents now, per ID chip.

C- Right, it's about fifty Korean won. But it's the readers that still need to become more affordable. Actually, right now, 64% of the money spent on an RFID system is on the readers. They are expensive components. That makes people hesitant to buy into them and slows down the commercialization and generalization of RFID technology.

M- People don't often want to update an entire system just to support one new technology. Except governments, they often like to update new multimillion dollar systems just to support one new technology. I heard that Korean government is doing something exactly like that about RFID.

C- Korean government has been highly active in supporting RFID research and development, just like China has recently completed the largest ever RFID project, national ID cards. Have you heard about that

M- Yeah, before the Beijing Olympics actually started they updated their ID system and gave RFID-tagged cards to every single person in their country.

C- It has cost them over six billion US dollars so far. Similar to that, the Korean government is working on electronic visas and national ID cards.

M- I guess with strong government support the RFID industry is still growing.

C- The RFID industry has given us about five million dollars profit in 2007. From 2007 to 2008 there has been growth of seven percent from 4.93 billion US dollars to 5.29 billion US dollars. And that's just within a year.

M- So is there a prediction for five or ten years down the road

C- In about 2017 about 25 billion dollars will be made in RFID.

M- 25 billion dollars is, that's definitely an international industry right there.

C- Yes, that's why the Korean government considers RFID as a strong growth engine.

M- yeah, everybody wants a growth engine. Also, everyone wants little electronic chips in their bananas. When can we see that

C- Well, bananas, yes. That kind of technology doesn't perform well around glass, metal, or anything wet. So I'm not sure when you will get your cyborg bananas, but hang in there, we might figure something out.

M- Alright, thank you very much. That's all the information we have on RFID/USN Korea 2008 International Exhibition, but we will be back next time.