New technology opens up new opportunities. - According to the Eurosmart association, the European association that represents the interests of the smartcard industry, the financial crisis seems to have little impact on the sector. There are over 5 billion smartcards to be marketed this year in the world, i.e. 13% more than in 2007. This growth should be continued in 2009 despite the difficulties experienced by the banking sector, which is the main user of smartcards. According to Gemalto, the world leader in smartcards, the credit crunch crisis will cause changes to occur in the banking sector but in so far as there will be greater security of transactions and payment means, which is to the advantage of those issuing smartcards. Eurosmart expects 12% growth on the market next year with 4.7 billion microchip cards and 740 million memory cards sold. The new NFC (near field communication) and RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies will make it possible to open up new possibilities for the sector and make up for the expected slowdown in 2009 in existing technologies. Payment by mobile phone and the multiplication of “smart” devices (USB keys, watches, key rings, etc) should also boost the market which, thanks to these new applications, should reach 20 billion units by 2020. (I.L./transl.jl)