HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam National University – HCM City's Integrated Circuit Design Research and Education Centre announc-ed the successful commerc-ialisation of its high-frequency RFID (radio frequency identification) chip.

"With RFID chips, RFID reader and management software, the system designed by ICDREC automates the personal access control procedure, secures public properties, collects necessary data for analyses, and improves human management procedures," ICDREC director Ngo Duc Hoang said on Wednesday.

In Viet Nam, there is much demand for RFID applications, but since RFID chips and devices are imported, Viet Nam is completely dependent and cannot create high value addition, he said.

"Success in researching and designing RFID chips and application systems showed the determination of young engineers at ICDREC and other universities.

"In addition, these products meet the practical needs of both Viet Nam and neighbours. The project aims to commercialise its results to produce RFID chips and devices used in many different applications."

On Wednesday ICDREC also reported the results of a research project to design and manufacture RFID chips, tags, readers and application systems started in 2011 with funding of VND145.7 billion (US$6.6 million), including VND124.8 billion from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The project focused on two types of 32-bit chips, one used in payment and access control cards operating in the high-frequency (HF) band and the other in packages and cargo operating in the HF band.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan said the project has received the ministry's biggest research funding until then.

Japanese firm Shoei and Vietnamese company VietNet signed contracts for developing and commercialising products based on ICDREC's research.

According to ICDREC, over 20 billion chips are consumed in the Viet Nam market every year. — VNS