Eurosmart sponsor of CARTES 2005 exhibition

All Eurosmart members were thrilled by the enormous success for the 2005 edition and numerous visitors on our booth. The General Secretariat welcomed many smart card professionals to discuss current challenges of the technology and the activities of the Association. About 400 Directories and 300 10th Anniversary CD Roms were disseminated during the 3-day event.

Olivier Piou, Chairman of Eurosmart introduced the Sesames Awards on 14 November in Paris with a speech on the key role of innovation in the development of the smart card industry. 10 projects were rewarded during the ceremony.

Eurosmart press conference, held on 15 November was attended by 50 people from the smart card industry and from the specialized press. Olivier Piou presented the smart card shipment figures 2005 and Eurosmart position paper on eHealth Card. For the past 10 years, the industry has shipped more than 1 card per inhabitant on the planet – 15 billion cards.

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Although an acceleration of the process in Europe is evident regarding the e-passport, Health card and driving licences are put on hold. For the EU health insurance card (plastic card replacing the various E 111 form) already delivered to all EU citizens traveling during the summer 2005, it appears very difficult to go any further at the moment as organisation and focus of health care systems in Europe differ very much. A common agreed platform seems urgent to adopt for the various systems to be compatible if necessary. Members of Eurosmart are collecting information on national projects and suggesting minimum requirements for a European platform.

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Eurosmart meetings

Security Managers from Eurosmart members officially presented their position to stakeholders involved in the smart card business in the payment area. The round table on 16 November was the occasion to discuss a coordinated approach of production sites audit between the various banking organisations. A new meeting is scheduled during World GSM Congress in February 2006.

Eurosmart Communication Working Group gathered at Cartes Exhibition to analyse the results of the Eurosmart satisfaction inquiry questionnaires and to discuss the priorities for the year 2006, in particular the preparation of a special press conference in 28 April 2006 in Brussels with the Eurosmart General Assembly and election of the new Chairman.

BioSec 4th Open Workshop – 28-29 November, Brussels – On behalf of the European Commission, the 4th BioSec workshop intended to widen cooperation between European academic researchers and representatives of companies on the following theme “Biometrics in a global environment”. The conference gave an overview on European and international initiatives regarding biometrics and on the results of the BioSec project that is coming to an end. A round table was also organised in order to draw the priorities for updating biometrics roadmap, and the participants notably discussed the necessity to work on the control of biometrics by the citizen by using adequate technologies like smart cards.