"With the development of ports in Southern China and their proximity to the manufacturing plants, less cargo is being handled in Hong Kong," he said. "Therefore warehouses are much smaller, so the use of RFID is less essential to search for products within the warehouse."

"The only useful area I see for RFID in Hong Kong is handling FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) or cargo that requires cross-stock: cargo that requires re-packing and re-distribution...quick turnover and limited handling time," he said. "But if manufacturers do not tag their goods before they arrive at the warehouse, we won't be able to make use of the technology to speed up the process."

Nurturing nascent technologies

Although RFID is important to the logistics industry, Tan said the center aims to also cover other useful nascent technologies.

"The center may not be developing off-the shelf applications, but it aims to develop technologies for tomorrow," he said. "Exploring new technologies is a business of the future, not today."