Smart Card Alliance

What Smart Card Alliance does

Secure Technology Alliance, formerly known as Smart Card Alliance, is a U.S.-based not-for-profit industry association that operates as a neutral, cross-industry convener for the secure technology ecosystem. The organization is structured around two primary forums — the U.S. Payments Forum (covering the full payments value chain including EMV, tokenization, CNP fraud mitigation, encryption, and mobile/contactless payments) and the Identity & Access Forum (covering physical and logical access, mobile driver's licenses, and interoperable digital identity) — together with an annual Identity & Payments Summit that attracted 400+ payments professionals and 77 speakers in 2023.

Its product surface consists of a Knowledge Center of white papers, FAQs, infographics, position papers, and webinars; training and certification programs; and member-driven project initiatives such as the Jumpstart mDL project (with working groups across healthcare, banking, casino & gaming, alcohol age verification, retail identity, and mobile IDV onboarding), Device Identification and Authentication, Digital Identity terminology, and Identity Assurance. The Alliance also maintains a dedicated mDL Connection microsite with use case templates and infographics for mobile driver's license adoption.

The business model is a classic industry-association stack: recurring annual membership dues (multiple tiers, pricing not publicly disclosed), event registration fees from the Identity & Payments Summit and Forum meetings, and professional services revenue from training, certification preparation, workshops, and briefings. The organization is governed by member companies and led by a small management team (1-10 employees) including a Chairman of the Board (Greg Garback), Chairman (Willy Dommen), Vice Chairman (Garfield Smith), Technology Vice Chairman (Frazier Evans), and Director of Strategic Programs (Cathy Medich). Following 15 years of operation, the organization rebranded from Smart Card Alliance to Secure Technology Alliance in 2024 to reflect the convergence of identity, access, and payments.

Name

Smart Card Alliance

Legal name

Secure Technology Alliance

Website

https://smartcardalliance.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Secure Technology Alliance (formerly Smart Card Alliance) is a U.S. non-profit industry association that convenes the payments and identity ecosystems through two cross-industry forums, an annual summit, member working groups, and a knowledge center of educational resources.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industry Association Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Secure ICs, Smart Cards & Trusted Hardware (HDAHAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Authentication (MFA/Passwordless/Biometrics) Platforms (BPAMAEAE)

Keywords

• Smart card technology
• Secure payments forum
• Digital identity standards
• Industry association
• EMV tokenization education

Headquarters

HQ city

Princeton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Organization is membership-driven with companies joining as members. Members participate in forums, councils, and project teams. Multiple membership levels available with varying benefits.
2. Event Registration Fees: Revenue from hosting educational events including the Identity & Payments Summit, U.S. Payments Forum meetings, webinars, and training programs.
3. Training and Certification Programs: Educational programs including workshops, educational courses, certification preparation, briefings and symposiums offered to members and non-members.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Smart Card Alliance (now Secure Technology Alliance) is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association that operates industry forums (U.S. Payments Forum and Identity & Access Forum), hosts the annual Identity & Payments Summit, and delivers training, certification, and Knowledge Center resources (white papers, FAQs, infographics, webinars) to advance understanding, standards, and adoption of smart card, secure payments, and digital identity technologies.

Product overview

The Secure Technology Alliance (formerly Smart Card Alliance) is an industry association providing a platform for secure technology education, collaboration, and standards development rather than a single product company. Its portfolio consists of two primary industry forums (Identity & Access Forum and U.S. Payments Forum), an annual Identity & Payments Summit conference, a Knowledge Center with published resources (white papers, FAQs, infographics, webinars), training and certification programs, and specialized project initiatives including Jumpstart (mDL), DIAP, Digital Identity, and Identity Assurance. The Alliance serves as a central hub for mobile driver's license (mDL) resources including use case templates and infographics. The organization operates member-driven working groups and provides industry education through events, publications, and training programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Identity & Payments Summit: The organization's flagship annual conference event that evolved from the Payments Summit to encompass identity, access, and payments technologies.
• Jumpstart (mDL)
• mDL Connection

Products and services

• Knowledge Center
• Identity & Access Forum
• U.S. Payments Forum
• Identity & Payments Summit
• Training Programs
• mDL Use Case Template
• mDL Infographic
• Dynamic Security Code Cards Webinar

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 400 payments professionals attended the 2023 joint event, with 77 speakers providing industry insights
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Industry PartnersminorOthersThe alliance references an 'Industry Partners' page but specific named industry partners are not disclosed in the source content. These are likely organizations that collaborate with or support the alliance's mission.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kantara Initiative: Non-profit industry organization focused on digital identity assurance frameworks, identity governance, and IAM standards — a direct peer in producing identity assurance, digital ID, and related working group deliverables in the same Digital Identity / Identity Assurance spaces.
• Open Identity Exchange (OIX): Member-driven organization developing guidance and trust frameworks for digital identity ecosystems; overlaps with Secure Technology Alliance's Jumpstart mDL and Identity & Access Forum projects in the verifiable credentials and identity interoperability space.
• FIDO Alliance: Industry alliance advancing open authentication standards (passkeys, FIDO2, WebAuthn); directly comparable to the Secure Technology Alliance's Identity & Access Forum, which addresses strong authentication, passwordless, and digital identity adoption.
• PCI Security Standards Council: Global standards body for payments security (PCI DSS, PTS, P2PE); directly comparable in mission to the Secure Technology Alliance's U.S. Payments Forum work on EMV, tokenization, and CNP fraud mitigation, with overlapping issuer, merchant, and processor members.
• EMVCo: Convenes global payments networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB, UnionPay) on EMV specifications — the foundational standards body behind the smart card chip, tokenization, and contactless payments topics driven inside the U.S. Payments Forum.

Broad incumbents

• GSMA: Global mobile network operator industry organization with adjacent programs on mobile identity, digital authentication, and secure SIM/eSIM technologies — overlapping with the Secure Technology Alliance's mobile payments and identity initiatives at a much larger scale.
• National Automated Clearing House Association (Nacha): Payments industry association governing the ACH network and broader US faster-payments topics; a peer in the US payments-association space, with similar member-driven forum and event-based operating model.
• Cloud Security Alliance: Large global, member-driven association producing research, certifications, and education on cloud and digital trust; comparable operating model (membership dues + events + Knowledge Center + working groups) relevant to Secure Technology Alliance's training and certification programs.
• International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA): Global trade association for card manufacturers, personalization, and secure document issuers; covers the physical smart card production side of the ecosystem that the Smart Card Alliance heritage represents, serving similar card-industry members.

Emerging players

• ACT Canada: Canadian-based association focused on payments, identity, and secure authentication; a smaller-scale peer with similar cross-vertical convening in payments + digital identity but a more Canadian/regional footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SmartCardOrgUSA
• Facebookfacebook.com/SmartCardAlliance
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smart-card-alliance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smart Card Alliance