• Matica’s research identifies top services for citizen access through city smartcards.
  • Top two preferred public services are: identity validation, and access to discounts and concessions.
  • Research will be published at TRUSTECH, Cannes, 29 November – 1 December, 2016.

MUNICH, Germany, 22 November, 2016 – Newly commissioned research from Matica Technologies AG shows that nearly two-thirds of citizens in four EU countries believe that access to multiple public services through a single smartcard is essential for effective service delivery in their local area.

As well as using the smartcard to validate ID (voted in by 78%), people are most interested in accessing concessions (78%), transport (76%) and health and social services (75%) through the single city smartcard.

The research[1] interviewed consumers in the UK, France, Germany and Spain about their attitude towards public services if they could be accessed through one secure smartcard.  Given that the majority consider such developments “essential” in their local area, the study’s findings suggest that we can expect a growing demand for cities to use more smartcard programmes to provide better access to public services.

“As city infrastructures evolve, we are committed to developing our market intelligence, engineering and technology to retain our position as the world’s leading provider of secure smartcards. This research provides considerable insights,” said Sandro Camilleri, CEO, Matica Technologies AG.

“Our study indicates that there is significant public interest in using one smartcard per citizen to better access a number of public services. In turn, this suggests that a city that creates a way of offering these services through a digitally connected world will garner popularity from its residents. This constitutes an ideal, yet practical, way to ascertain ‘smart city’ status.

 “Aside from citizen convenience, we also live in a world of ‘big data’. As long as big data is secured, the city’s governing authority can improve services and reduce delivery costs through unprecedented market insights collected from smartcards, which also proves to be incredibly cost-effective. This is much more useful than assessing people’s habits and the success of services in artificial silos.”

The new Matica Technologies research, commissioned through independent market research organisation MindMetre, will be published in full at TRUSTECH incorporating CARTES Secure Connexions, the largest event dedicated to trust-based technologies taking place from 29 November to 1 December at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Visitors are invited to stop by booth Riviera C056 to pick up their free copy of the report or register online to receive it by email after the show. Matica will exhibit their range of innovations from their portfolio of secure smartcard technology – one of the biggest in the market – as well as technology leading the way in financial card issuance and other secure government ID applications.

Download pdf version of Press release

Readers wishing to access the full Matica research study should visit: http://pages.maticatech.com/research_notes.html

[1] Online fieldwork carried out by independent research organization MindMetre during October 2016.  Sample: 1,000+ consumers in each of UK, France, Germany, Spain; national representation by age, gender, region, social group.