The winner in the AIDC division, CYBRA, partnered with a major healthcare services company to leverage cold-chain technology for specialty pharmaceutical products. CYBRA Corporation, developers of world-class MarkMagic Bar Code Labels and RFID technology, delivered an innovative “over the air” labeling solution that automated the creation of shipping labels for their client’s eco-friendly Ember Cubes. MarkMagic empowered the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s personnel to produce an e-ink image, change the destination as needed at any point during the package’s journey, and manage the safe return of the Ember Cube they used — all through the Cloud. MarkMagic, working in tandem with the Ember Cube, eliminated the need for a thermal printer, bar code label stock, and special bar code label ribbons.

For the Blockchain category, Digimarc collaborated with IOTA, an open-sourced distributed ledger and cryptocurrency designed for the IoT, to create a Digital Product Passport (DPP) blueprint in support of some of the European Union (EU) initiative requirements including the use of open standards, decentralized architectures, and accessibility. The EU DPP Initiative will require many consumer products to feature a unique and accessible Digital Identity to enhance the sustainability of products placed on the European Market. Digimarc’s Illuminate platform is used to build the passport data and identity, and the IOTA distributed ledger technology (DLT) is used to provide a layer of trust. DPPs will allow brands to display (and prove) sustainability credentials giving those companies doing the ‘right thing’ for the planet and their stakeholders an opportunity to stand out and ultimately, ‘win.’

The RFID class standout went to Mojix, a global leader in item-level intelligence solutions. This case study describes the successful implementation of RFID-based returnable asset tracking for Tosca, a company that provides returnable packaging solutions for the supply chain. The main goal was to improve the accuracy of stock levels and achieve better consistency throughout all of Tosca’s maintenance sites in Europe. The execution was carried out by Mojix, in collaboration with Coriel, a provider of supply chain and logistics software solutions in three phases that included reliability scanning, enhanced visibility and mass implementation. The solution provided Tosca with complete visibility of returnable transit items throughout the supply chain, enabling the company to share valuable traceability data with its customers. This resulted in significant improvements in cycle time and a reduction in the number of damaged items in circulation.

In the IoT segment, Shipcom Wireless took the top spot. Shipcom collaborated with the South Dakota Department of Health (SD DoH) to develop and implement a digitized and automated Inventory Management Solution (IMS) to streamline the management of critical public safety teams. The IMS system, which incorporates barcode labeling and hand-held readers, provides real-time alerts regarding product calibration/inspection status, inventory transfer requests, and when materials will soon expire. The system enables SD DoH to optimize inventory management, controls, and supply readiness, providing real-time visibility, alarms, notifications, dashboards, and reports. As a result, SD DoH has indicated that Shipcom’s IMS has significantly reduced labor-intensive management efforts and enabled confident reporting and decision-making, resulting in cost savings and data-driven insights.