Her Majesty the Queen received a primer about the benefits of RFID technology during a visit to the University of Exeter in the UK last week. Queen Elizabeth II was briefed about a joint project between The University and QinetiQ. The goal of the project is to improve the accuracy of RFID when it comes to tracking goods through the supply chain.

Queen Elizabeth II witnessed RFID in action during a tour of the University of Exeter.

The Queen was introduced to Dr Andrew Treen, Matt Biginton and Professor Roy Sambles, who are all part of the Knowledge Transfer Account (KTA) project, which is known as Arkiris. The project is part of an initiative funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and is an example of industry working with academia and a model that can be successfully replicated elsewhere in the academic sector.

The Queen was also given a demonstration of how RFID can be used to track blood samples as they travel from the hospital or surgery, through testing in the clinical laboratory, before returning the results to the patient. The new system has the ability to improve accuracy and minimize problems experienced within the current system, significantly simplifying how services are currently provided.

Andrew Treen, who is seconded from QinetiQ to lead the Arkiris project said, “It was a great honour for us to be able to tell Her Majesty what we have been doing. We have formed a close collaboration with the University over the last few years and we are hopeful that in the near future we will be able to make the underlying research and development a commercial reality through a spin-off company.”