Asia Pacific is a hotbed of activity for some of the best and most revolutionary developments in the field of smart cards, digital security, identification and secure transactions - from contactless card transactions to smart identity cards. The distinguished judges of the prestigious Asian SESAMES Awards have been rewarding innovation in this area since 2010. This year due to the wide variety of smart technology coming out of Asia Pacific the organisers, Comexposium, have expanded the SESAMES to three new categories. The deadline for entries is 8 February 2013 with the winners revealed at CARTES Asia, AsiaWorld-Expo on 27 March 2013.

The 2013 Asian SESAMES Awards will reward the best projects in the following three categories:

• Card technology - manufacturing, personalisation – covers everything relating to cards from technology, manufacturing, personalisation, and delivery of technology to the cardholder.
• Hardware – includes readers, validators, smart secure devices and projects that allow users to interact with the card.
• Software and applications - covers all segment dedicated applications (payment, telecom, healthcare, transport, identity, etc.), and software that runs applications.

Isabelle Alfano, CARTES Events Director says: "Asia Pacific is not only one of the world’s biggest users of smart technology it is also proving to be one of the biggest sources of technology pioneers. The Asian SESAMES celebrate the leaders in this industry and highlights the future technology that will make paying, transportation and security easier for consumers, businesses and governments.”

Winners at the SESAMES Awards at CARTES Paris (November 2012) included Sunward Telecom Limited with 13.56 MHz RF-SIM( Identification / ID Cards / Health category) from Hong Kong and Toro Development Ltd with Akami Suite (Banking/Retail/Loyalty category) from Taiwan.

The jury members of the Asian SESAMES Awards are independent experts from across the industry. The competition is free of charge and open to CARTES Asia exhibitors and non-exhibitors alike. The schedule is:

Contest opening: 4 December 2012

Deadline for submissions (by Internet only): 8 February 2013

Official announcement of candidates: 19 February 2013

Scoring grids completed: 10 March 2013

Official announcement of finalists: 14 March 2013

Award ceremony and announcement of the winners: 27 March 2013

CARTES is getting a make-over in 2013 with a new logo and new slogan: "Secure Connexions Event. “This reflects its desire to develop global synergies at both a human and technological level and demonstrate the connection between the real and virtual worlds”, added Alfano.

About CARTES Asia (co-located with E-commerce Asia)
Date: 27-28 March 2013
Place: Hong Kong - AsiaWorld-Expo
Organiser: Comexposium
Web site: www.cartes-asia.com
www.ecom-asia.com/