By Aileen Ryan, RAIN Alliance President & CEO

It has been 12 months since I took the role of President of the RAIN Alliance, and it has certainly been a year to remember! We have achieved a lot on behalf of, and in collaboration with, our members.

Last week at our event in Wiesbaden it was a great pleasure to meet so many of our member community, and during our “member day,” I presented a recap of the year and shared some of our plans for 2024. For those of you who were not in attendance in person, I thought it would be useful to share and reflect on the remarkable accomplishments that we have achieved together since October 2022:

  • Engaging Events: We successfully hosted three member meetings and public events, including “RAIN in Motion,” “RAIN in Action,” and the recent “Unlocking IoT with RAIN RFID,” which included our inaugural end-users advisory meeting. We also had a significant presence in Shenzen in September, hosting a webinar and dinner for members and invited guests, and participating in the IOTE conference and exhibition.
  • Market Research Report: We released a comprehensive VDC market research report, which highlighted the expansion of the RAIN RFID market and set a projection for very significant growth in the coming years with $1.1 billion in revenues expected by 2026. The 2022 growth already exceeded the forecast from the 2022 RAIN RFID Market Research report from VDC.
  • Increased Brand Visibility: The use of the “RAIN RFID” brand nearly doubled, with 100 out of 151 members using our branding on their websites.
  • Global Expansion: We focused on expanding our reach worldwide, with a special emphasis on the Asia Pacific region, through webinars highlighting member case studies and visits to member companies in Finland, Japan, and China.
  • Working Groups: Our working groups have been actively working on technical and sector-specific issues to help promote the use of RAIN RFID. We also formed a Plastics Recycling Tiger Team to ensure our technology is benign to the plastics recycling process.
  • Sustainability Initiative: We initiated a sustainability survey to capture current examples of RAIN-enabled sustainability and explore the future potential of RAIN’s contribution to sustainability. Watch this space for the availability of the summary report!
  • Staff Expansion: We welcomed new additions to our team, including the Head of Regulatory Affairs Josef Preishuber-Pflügl, Director of Training George Greenlee, and Conferences Director Mindy Emsley.
  • Educational Initiatives: We introduced inaugural courses like our Tyres Masterclass, held in Germany in March, with another planned for Japan in November.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: We rolled out Basecamp for Working Group Collaboration and for Members-only access, facilitating smoother communication and cooperation.
  • Membership Growth: Member organizations grow when they are addressing the most important topics and helping our members on issues that can best be done as a community. It’s very pleasing to note that, because of all the above items, we have seen very significant membership growth, and we look forward to continuing to support all our members in the coming year.

As a member of the RAIN Alliance, you should be proud of these achievements and the work we are collectively doing to drive the market adoption of RAIN RFID technology. Our industry is currently experiencing an exciting period of growth. Projections indicate a remarkable 29% CAGR in industry revenues, with a multitude of new use cases emerging beyond traditional markets like retail and the supply chain.

In 2024, the RAIN Alliance will celebrate its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of dedication and impact in the industry. If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to consider joining us in our mission to create a smarter and more sustainable world, using RAIN RFID technology to interconnect trillions of objects simply and inexpensively.