Auto-ID Labs

What Auto-ID Labs does

Auto-ID Labs is a non-profit academic research organization founded in 1999, structured as a global network of research laboratories focused on networked RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technologies. The organization is led by Alexander Ilic (Director), Hao Min (Research Director), and Florian Michahelles (Associate Director), and operates with a headcount band of 11-50 personnel. Its stated positioning is that of the leading global academic research network in the networked RFID field, suggesting a consortium-style model linking multiple research institutions rather than a single centralized lab.

The organization's core "product" is academic research output rather than commercial goods or services. No products, services, APIs, integrations, or technology stack details are disclosed in the source material — in fact, the API assessment explicitly confirms no public API exists. The organization's web presence at autoidlabs.ch is currently inactive, displaying a default hosting placeholder rather than operational content, which limits visibility into current research programs, publications, or active collaborations. No patents, certifications, awards, or regulatory actions are documented.

Auto-ID Labs' business model appears to be that of a non-profit academic consortium, likely funded through institutional grants, public research funding, and academic-industry partnerships rather than commercial product sales or licensing. No revenue model, pricing structure, customer segments, GTM motion, or distribution channels are disclosed. The absence of any disclosed funding rounds, M&A activity, or commercial partnerships underscores its positioning as an academic research entity rather than a venture-backed or commercially operated business.

Name

Auto-ID Labs

Website

https://autoidlabs.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Auto-ID Labs is a non-profit global network of academic research laboratories founded in 1999, focused on networked RFID technologies. It conducts research serving the auto-identification community through academic and institutional collaborations rather than commercial product offerings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Core offering

Auto-ID Labs operates as the leading global network of academic research laboratories focused on networked RFID. The organization conducts fundamental and applied research into RFID, sensors, and related identification technologies, delivering research output and thought leadership to industry and academic partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Others

• Intel Labs: Large corporate research arm active in IoT, edge computing, and sensing — adjacent to Auto-ID Labs in research orientation but not competing directly in RFID; useful comparator for academic-vs-corporate research model.

Broad incumbents

• GS1: The standards organization that emerged from Auto-ID Labs' EPC research; comparable in that it owns and evolves the EPC/RFID standards Auto-ID Labs helped originate, though it operates as a global industry consortium rather than an academic lab.
• Alien Technology: Long-standing RFID tag and reader manufacturer with academic/research roots; comparable as a commercial counterpart operating in the same RFID technology domain.
• Impinj: Leading commercial RFID tag and reader vendor that commercialized much of the technology Auto-ID Labs helped research; comparable through shared RFID focus and customer overlap in retail/logistics RAIN deployments.
• Zebra Technologies: Major commercial vendor of RFID readers, scanners, and IoT solutions across retail, logistics, and healthcare; comparable through serving the same end customers and use cases that Auto-ID Labs' research targets.
• NXP Semiconductors: Major semiconductor vendor producing NFC/RFID chips widely deployed in IoT applications; comparable as a downstream commercializer of foundational RFID research.
• Avery Dennison RFID: One of the largest commercial providers of RFID inlays and tags; comparable through deep involvement in the EPC/RFID ecosystem that Auto-ID Labs helped create.

Direct peers

• Auto-ID Labs MIT: Duplicate of MIT Auto-ID Lab; included to reinforce that the Auto-ID Labs network concept means multiple geographically distributed labs that are all direct peers of the Swiss entity.
• ETH Zurich IoT Lab: Swiss academic IoT research lab at ETH Zurich; Auto-ID Labs (autoidlabs.ch) is hosted in this same institutional ecosystem and shares overlapping faculty (Florian Michahelles). Direct peer in IoT/RFID research.
• MIT Auto-ID Lab: The original Auto-ID Lab founded at MIT in 1999; Auto-ID Labs is itself an outgrowth/spin-off of this lab. Same founder lineage, same research mission in networked RFID and IoT, same global network branding — the most direct peer.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights3 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/autoidlab
• Facebookfacebook.com/108294235861656
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/auto-id-labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Auto-ID Labs