Touchbase integrates business cards and smartphones

A new technology is set to harmonise both traditional and modern business etiquette, by making business cards smartphone compatible. Touchbase Technologies has developed a new system to allow a professional acquaintance's details to be uploaded digitally instantaneously by passing a card across a smartphone or similar device. Once the system is perfected it could be reorientated towards delivering new, consumer-friendly brand protection technologies.

The information on the new cards developed by Touchbase, an industry spin-off from the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is impregnated into circuitry produced using a conductive ink. When brought into contact with a smartphone the card automatically creates a connection to a predetermined social networking site like LinkedIn or Facebook.
To facilitate this exchange the company has developed a smartphone app, called Touchbase, to enable the phone to read the information. The current app works only on the iPhone 5 series.

The Touchbase approach offers advantages over existing systems designed to integrate business cards and smartphones. Principally because the circuitry is only providing a link, a user can update the details at any time using a profile stored on a cloud database. The integrated circuitry can also hold more data and does not require ascetically challenging features like QR codes to communicate the data.

Another major challenge to overcome is the composition of the card itself. The prototype uses a rigid card, which can require a smartphone to be removed from its protective case before it can be accessed. The next development step it to print the conductive ink circuits onto a more flexible substrate. This will increase its usability and opportunities in other sectors. To finance this evolution the company has raised $30,000 (€22,000) via a crowdfunding website.