RFID Research Center Awards Board Membership to Passenger Baggage Xpress

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Passenger Baggage Xpress at ARK Challenge

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Passenger Baggage Xpress was chosen by the RFID Research Center in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas to receive a business-level board membership worth $25,000 over eight other startup companies participating in the ARK Challenge.

Passenger Baggage Xpress was chosen from among the technology startups in the fields of retail, transportation, logistics and food participating in the ARK Challenge in September. The nine companies were chosen from among 92 applicants and given a chance to pitch their business to angel investors at the Crystal Bridge’s Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

The winning technology concept presented by Passenger Baggage Xpress is a tracking system for luggage, allowing travelers to track their belongings, receive notifications of delays and expedite baggage claims.

The seat on the center’s board will afford the company access to industry-leading companies in the fields of logistics, retail and technology, as well as the resources and expertise of the RFID Research Center. Radio frequency identification, or RFID, uses a wireless system to transmit data from tags on products to a receiver for the purpose of identifying and tracking the product through the supply chain.

More than 30 industry-leading companies joined forces with the University of Arkansas to found the research center to support a multidisciplinary, neutral, third-party research and testing facility. The RFID Research Center officially opened its first laboratory on June 10, 2005, after receiving $2 million in total commitments from sponsors.

The RFID Research Center has collaborative relationships with researchers across the University of Arkansas, including the departments of accounting, economics, finance, information systems, management, marketing and supply chain management in the Walton College; the departments of computer science, computer engineering, industrial engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering; the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies and the department of public policy in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; the department of food science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; and the School of Law.