The Centre for Process Innovation Limited (CPI) UK, is leading a three-year collaborative project to enable widespread adoption of packaging systems fitted with Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. The project also  includes Unilever, Hasbro, Crown Packaging, and PragmatIC Printing amongst others.

Titled SCOPE, the project aims to build a world-class manufacturing supply chain of NFC enabled smart packaging, making the UK a pioneer in smart packaging products, and generating a large adoption of packaging incorporating near-field communication (NFC) based technology .

The NFC technology works along with the principles of IoT. An NFC chip is embedded in the product packaging which can be activated by a smartphone or an NFC reader. In close proximity, data can be transferred between the two devices. 

The Consortium aims to produce NFC tags using printable electronics, reducing the overall cost of mass production. The printed NFC tags aim to offer a number of features like:

• Product differentiation 
• Tracking product authenticity
• Anti-tampering controls
• Data management information

With SCOPE, CPI not only aims to develop new processes, equipment and applications to enable widespread NFC packaging, but also to build a manufacturing supply chain for the same. This would enable the widespread adoption of NFC packaging in the commercial market.

The project is being developed in collaboration with a number of the top-tier companies like:

• World-class end-users: Unilever, Hasbro, Crown Packaging
• Tier-1 product supply chain companies: Andrews & Wykeham, Mercian Labels
• Technological expertise: PragmatIC, Optek, University of Kent, Silvaco, Innovia
• NFC knowledge: NFS
• User feedback: BPIF 

SCOPE will look over multiple products like beverages, consumer goods, games, and security. The project will also comprise the healthcare, food, energy, transport and defense industries. 

The project is a 10 million GBP collaborative project, co-funded by the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI).