Ericsson has launched an NFC access control pilot at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT ICT) Labs campus in Kista Science City, Sweden.

Starting this month, EIT ICT Labs staff, researchers and students will be able to access the Electrum facilities using just an NFC-enabled phone or smart card. Participants will have access to entrance doors as well as to meeting rooms and video conferencing facilities.

The pilot, which is scheduled to last for six months, will use an access control system developed by Telcred along with Ericsson’s cloud-based Trusted Service Manager, which enables access credentials to be sent and updated in the secure element of an NFC phone.

“With this solution, granting access rights to students and researchers becomes very simple,” said Richard Anell, head of IPX at Ericsson. “Time limited access rights are sent via the mobile network straight to the visitors’ NFC phones through Ericsson’s TSM. It is convenient and flexible, as a visiting researcher from another country could potentially receive a digital ‘ticket’ straight to their phone granting access to the facilities for a limited time and to predefined areas – even before he or she arrives.”