In this episode of IoT Unplugged, Caitlin Gittings talks to Kirsten Newquist, CEO of Identiv, about the evolving RFID and IoT landscape.
Kirsten begins by outlining her professional background, including 17 years at Avery Dennison in Corporate Strategy, Healthcare RFID, and business leadership roles, as well as earlier experience in private-equity and venture-backed companies. She explains that this long-standing focus on building and scaling businesses is what drew her to Identiv, where she has served as CEO for just over a year.
Kirsten describes Identiv as being at a pivotal moment. Formerly comprising both Physical Security and RFID divisions, the company sold its Physical Security business around a year ago. The sale strengthened its balance sheet, enabling Identiv to focus entirely on RFID and IoT.
Turning to the RFID market, Kirsten highlights several macro trends driving demand: the rapid expansion of IoT devices, increasing regulation, and rising concerns about counterfeit goods. RFID plays a key role in addressing these challenges by enabling traceability, compliance, and authentication. She cites pharmaceuticals as a compelling example: RFID tags can track life-saving medicines through the supply chain, verify authenticity, and ensure temperature compliance for drugs requiring strict handling conditions.
Kirsten also discusses consumable authentication as a growing application area. RFID and NFC can ensure medical devices or consumer products use the correct components, whether that is a diagnostic test cartridge or a household printer ink module. Regulation is also a major catalyst, particularly the upcoming Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements, which mandate traceability and sustainability data for various product categories from 2027. She explains that NFC, with its one-to-one authentication capability, is especially well suited for DPP compliance.
Kirsten highlights several deployments illustrating the breadth of Identiv’s work. These range from pharmaceutical tracking, to luxury goods authentication, to a logistics partnership with IFCO—one of the world’s largest fresh-produce crate providers—using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for real-time temperature and location monitoring. She also shares a human-centred example: an NFC-enabled children’s book solution developed with a Danish publisher, which pairs with a smart speaker to read stories aloud to young readers.
Looking ahead, Kirsten emphasises significant opportunities in both NFC for DPP and BLE for logistics and condition monitoring. She closes by expressing excitement about the industry’s potential, the problems RFID can solve, and the collaborative innovation between Identiv, its partners, and its customers.
To hear more about what they had to say, listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and at the link below.
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