The History of EPCglobal North America

For an EPCglobal and industry timeline, click here.

EPCglobal is a joint venture between GS1 and GS1 US, which were responsible for driving global adoption of the barcode in the 1970s and 1980s.

The EPCglobal Network was developed by the Auto-ID Center, an academic research project headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with labs at five leading research universities around the globe: Cambridge, Adelaide, Keio, Shanghai, Fudan, St. Gallen.

Their research was supported by more than 100 leading manufacturers and retailers and focused on harnessing the power of RFID for commercial applications. Companies and consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries of the EPCglobal Network, as it enables organizations to be more efficient, flexible and responsive to customer needs.

On October 31, 2003, administrative functions of the Auto-ID Center officially ended and its research functions evolved into Auto-ID Labs. EPCglobal continues to work with Auto-ID Labs to refine the technology and meet needs identified in the future.

EPCglobal North America was formed as a Member Organization of EPCglobal Inc on November 1, 2003 to help US-based companies develop and implement the EPCglobal Network. Since then, EPCglobal North America has grown to include hundreds of end-user organizations, technology suppliers, standards, research and trade organizations as Subscribers.

For additional information about the ongoing work of Auto-ID Labs, visit http://www.autoidlabs.org/