A lot has happened in the past year as the global recession has taken hold and shattered many people’s confidence. It’s had an impact on the industry, too, with some firms delaying expenditure on schemes, while others have opted to launch less ambitious pilots. But the good news is that it hasn’t ground to a halt. The raft of announcements that have come through in the Contactless Intelligence (CI) weekly news feed in the past 12 months demonstrates that while budgets have been put under pressure, successful companies have highlighted how contactless can boost loyalty and even be more cost effective than legacy systems. And as confidence returns to the business community, projects that are ready and waiting in the sidelines will hopefully be rolled out and given a chance to show what they can do.

For us, there’s another reason to be optimistic. This year’s event marks a milestone for CI, with C-IQ now celebrating its second anniversary. Our recording and filming program continues to go from strength to strength – and you’ll discover we have an even bigger presence at this year’s exhibition when we’ll be broadcasting live shows from our studios throughout the event. Our networking events and conferences are continuing to attract the big names from all parts of the contactless value chain. And as this edition of C-IQ goes to press, our agenda for 2010 is already progressing well. We have some great plans for the year, with a series of new shows set to be broadcast on the CI channel. To find out more about them, turn to our advert on page 65, or visit the CI booth during Cartes.

The main focus of this edition of C-IQ is Turkey, the location of payments innovation dating all the way back to the early days of EMV chip technology. Unlike Western Europe, which has to deal with the challenges of implementing new technology on legacy systems, Turkey has made the leap straight to some of the most innovative technologies around. And, thanks to its large, young population (average age just 28.5), the technology has really caught on. CI took its cameras to Istanbul earlier this year to find out why the market has been so successful. Our roundtable meeting in the city brought together key players already operating in the region as well as those interested in the growing opportunities in this market. On page 34, Tim Jefferson, chair of the roundtable, discusses the highlights and tells C-IQ about the plans that emerged from the event. Cem Duran from IDO and DenizBank’s Kerem Pamuk and Sinem Soğukçay give us the low-down on the Sea&Miles program on page 18. Turn to page 24 to find out why Visa is so committed to contactless, according to Osman  Inegöl. We also look at why Turkish sports clubs are going mobile and examine the opportunities for contactless (page 26). And DenizBank’s Sinem Soğukçay discusses the opportunities for contactless technology in soccer on page 30.

To spotlight a market that has slipped under many players’ radars for a long time, CI also organized a thought-provoking Parking Roundtable in London earlier this year. As chair of the roundtable Tim Jefferson reveals on page 14, parking has not typically been considered one of the contactless use cases by network or scheme operators, making it a sector with plenty of potential. NCP’s Rohan Bloice gives us an update on his firm’s work with contactless (page 6), and on page 10, Manny Rasores de Toro of the British Parking Association highlights some of the challenges and opportunities of contactless for his members.

While there are opportunities aplenty, our tours of the trade shows over the past 12 months – and our ongoing conversations with industry thinkers – has highlighted the quality and quantity of cases that the industry can showcase to illustrate contactless successfully in action. On page 38, Sid Bulloch of Dundee City Council tells C-IQ how contactless technology is being used for an entitlement card in Scotland. Over on page 42, a spokesperson for Chicago Transit Authority discusses why the organization is moving from a closed loop ticketing system. And on page 46, Derek Greene of StaffPlan Enterprise reveals how NFC can be used for a wide variety of applications beyond payments and ticketing. His firm is applying the technology to time and motion applications, helping to keep remote workers safe and providing an audit trail to prove that employees have been where they are supposed to be.

Mark Cody of O2 gives us an update on the firm’s use of contactless technology (page 54). Turn to page 56 to find out the status of some of Barclaycard’s contactless projects from the firm’s Richard Wagstaff. And read Catherine Murchie’s account of some of the contactless developments at MasterCard on page 58.

So, in spite of the global economic gloom and doom there are reasons to be optimistic as there have been some real – albeit slow – steps forward in the past 12 months. As major economies emerge from recession, spending picks up and progress is made on NFC handsets, even more new opportunities will hopefully be created. And on a lighter note, there is another reason to be optimistic: the organizers of Cartes have changed the dates of this year’s show, so we’re slightly more confident that we won’t have to navigate the streets of Paris during another of the event’s traditions: the public transport strike.

I will be with the CI team during the event, so I hope to see many of you there.

Until next time,

Wendy Atkins

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