Wise Media’s annual EMEA summit on automatic identification and wireless technologies, ID WORLD Abu Dhabi 2010, opened its doors in the UAE on May 3, under the patronage of UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H.H. Sheik Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Over the two days, ID WORLD Abu Dhabi, its forums and special initiatives saw attendees convene to share their knowledge and contribute to the 7 working groups of the regional thought leadership symposium from more than 35 countries. ID WORLD Abu Dhabi hosted the Citizen ID Forum, the Transportation Security Forum and the Asset Tracking Forum that, in the last four years, took place as separate events in Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Istanbul, Milan, Amsterdam, Paris and twice in Abu Dhabi. The event had both a global and regional focus on automatic identification and wireless technologies with a concentrated conference program of plenary sessions, breakout seminars and workshops, as well as a two-day exhibition.

Also at the event, Wise Media’s newest initiative, Postal Innovation, was launched to resounding success with a two-day conference attended by major postal operators and innovators from around the region. In addition, the NFC Academy Conference, returned to the region – as part of the event – after its high profile launch in Abu Dhabi in February 2009.

High ranking and influential speakers from around the region included Dr Ali Al Khouri, Acting General Director of the Emirates Identity Authority, the Hon. Suvi Lindén, Finnish Minister of Communications, Dr Mohammad Benten, President and CEO of Saudi Post and Prince Uche Secondus, Board Chairman of the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). In addition, ID WORLD Abu Dhabi conference welcomed high profile delegations from the EU,America, France, Finland, Germany, India, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Switzerand, Tunisia, the Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, to mention only some.

Discussion over the two days ranged from government driven ID schemes, securing trade and travel and the provision of citizen centric services to the world of contactless technologies for transport and new innovations in asset tracking. Special focus was given to the growth of autoID and wireless solutions in both the postal and healthcare market sectors.

The Postal Innovation conference drew loud acclaim from all protagonists, while the newly launched Healthcare@IDWORLD Working Group established itself as a strong new core of leading experts contributing to a forum to take forward as a growing initiative.

For the home market, ID WORLD Abu Dhabi was positioned as a truly regional initiative committed to furthering industry growth in the Middle East by involving local and regional players in government and transportation security, postal and shipping services as well as advanced smart technologies in the banking and telecommunications sectors.

With the record numbers and outstanding satisfaction expressed by participants, the first of Wise Media’s annual regional events sets a new benchmark in ID WORLD Summits. The valuable discussions that took place in Abu Dhabi will continue at ID WORLD International Congress, the ninth annual world summit on automatic identification, in Milan on November 16-18, 2010 (www.idworldonline.com).

ID WORLD Abu Dhabi 2010 was endorsed by the European Commission, the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) and Abu Dhabi Police. The event wassponsored by Sagem Sécurité, Morphotrak, Saudi Post, Datalogic Scanning and Cassis International.

Comments on ID WORLD Abu Dhabi 2010:

Ratan Bajaj, Commissioner, Income Tax Department, India "I believe robust and resilient national citizen identity systems, with appropriate linkages to similar systems of other nations, are critical for sustaining globalization. ID WORLD, in my opinion, offers a unique platform for experience sharing on challenges and opportunities for setting up national citizen identity eco-systems."

Larry Panetta, US Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security: “I greatly enjoyed several of the keynote speakers, seeing the various vendors and speaking with company representatives as well. I also felt that there was ample networking time for all of the attendees. The dinner was fabulous - I had such stimulating conversations at my table. Overall it was an informative, enjoyable experience. I would gladly attend and be honored to speak again.”

Michael Hegenbarth, Senior Director Standardization, Bundesdruckerei “What a great conference! I enjoyed it very much. The evening session on the second day with the CEO Vision, Closing Notes and Awards was really good.”

Adel Abd El-Rahman, e-Business Manager, UAE Ministry of Health “The presentations and speakers were informative. I enjoyed the event and will definitely participate in ID WORLD, Milan.”

Christophe Owolabi, Board member, Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC): “The event was quite enlightening. I learnt a lot and enjoyed the tangible exhibition.”

Andrej Zaoral, Business Development and Strategy, Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka; “A very well organized conference with careful selection of topics and speakers. Covered a broad field of innovative solutions for security of digital living.”

Akio Miyaji, Quality of Service Coordinator, United Postal Union: “Indeed, it was a great pleasure for me to be able to follow your full sessions and work together with your excellent team. I was also happy to note that Wise Media created the Postal Innovation forum within the ID WORLD conference. The postal sector is evolving using new technology and the change is being observed throughout the sector - as the Saudi Post CEO effectively presented, showing the difference between the “current” and the “past”. Thank you very much for kindly providing me with this excellent opportunity.”

Charles de Couessin, Agence Nationale de Titres Sécurisés, Government of France: “These conferences have been very profitable for me, many contacts, that led to the numerous contacts I was then able to do outside for new opportunities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.”

Michiel van der Veen, CEO, priv-ID, “A great conference, I enjoyed it very much. I think you did again a great job in organizing it - well done!”

Rainer Rettig, President, Are-Con; “Over all I think Wise Media again did a wonderful job in getting all the officials into the arena. I am looking forward to seeing you in Milan.”

Farhad Fassihi, Managing Director, GEP Tec; “I had an informative time at ID WORLD Abu Dhabi becoming familiar with advances in the application of RFID technologies in the gulf region. Congratulations to Wise Media for the successful organization. Looking forward to a continued cooperation.”

Matthew Ennis, CEO, Monsoon Road:  “What I would like to applaud the most is Wise Media and their effort level - a great team. My thanks to everyone involved with the forum for their efforts. I believe you did a fantastic job. Regarding the summit itself, I think the quality of talks is really quite high. Thank you for including me. Best of luck to you in the future.”

Naohisa Ichihara, Manager, NTT Data Corporation: “I appreciate your inviting me to ID WORLD 2010 in Abu Dhabi, it was an great honor and pleasure to attend. Please find my comment on this summit; ID WORLD 2010 was a great opportunity for all the participants not only to know the leading company’s activities in a real field, but also to dwell on the future vision of automatic identification, security, mobility and NFC related business.”

Samir Jerbi, Commercial Strategy Director, La Poste Tunisienne: “ID WORLD Abu Dhabi brought together good ideas about ID technologies and best practices all over the world.”

Rolf Schroeder, Manager EMEA, Wacom: “ID WORLD with its Forums is a high value event with excellent exchange of knowledge and great networking opportunities.”

Roberto Schiavo, Regional IMEA Director, Datalogic Scanning: ID WORLD Abu Dhabi is the incredible blending between real Arabic atmosphere and cosmopolitan decision makers in the AIDC market.

Andre Oeyen, Director Business Development, Sita: “I was impressed by the way that this event has succeeded to catch attention/support from local authorities and regional media, including TV. This kind of publicity is leveraging the effect of the conference, beyond the physical presence of the delegates.”

Elham Saleh, Technical Resources Director, Bahrain Central Informatic Organization (CIO)  “I would highly rate the event overall especially as I found all the content and contacts informative in different areas.”

Abbas Khodaverdi, Manager, Scientific Green (SGI), Government of Iran: “I'd like also to give my best thanks to Wise Media for such a huge effort and holding such an impressive and important event. I did enjoy of attending this conference despite my very limited time due to many projects, but I was happy that I could achieve many goals in this event. I hope and of course will do my best to attend to the next one in Milan as well.”

Walter Gritzner, Business Unit Manager, Keba: “Congratulations to the organizers of ID WORLD Abu Dhabi - I think the Wise Media team did a great job - even read about it in the papers. Looking forward to talking to you about participating in Milan.”