(April 25 – 11:00 ET) – MasterCard International has made a $5 million grant to establish the “Transactions Laboratory” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The transactions laboratory will be a resource for MIT’s new e-markets special interest group, composed of manufacturers, distributors and technology companies who will study the future of commerce. The work in the laboratory will include the development of innovative technologies that help consumers, businesses, and retailers conduct transactions easily, efficiently and securely.
MasterCard will also become a sponsor for the Center for eBusiness at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. While Media Lab researchers focus directly on technology, Sloan faculty will research complementary issues—new business models for e-markets, pricing structures, consumer shopping behaviour and attitudes.
“Through this partnership, we believe there is much we can accomplish for our member financial institutions and their cardholders,” said William I. Jacobs, senior executive vice president, Strategic Ventures at MasterCard.
The “MasterCard Future of Transactions Laboratory” will explore a number of technologies in the payments and electronic commerce process, including:
– Remote devices, such as transponders, used increasingly in payment transactions
– Electronic authentication technology, including biometrics, for buyers and sellers
– Mobile phones, pagers and palmtop PCs, which provide an alternative delivery system for Internet access, as well as web phones and wireless data services
– Infra-red technology that allows point-and-shoot data transfer among notebook PCs, PDAs and client systems, as well as signalling systems that won’t even require a direct line of sight between the two communicating components
MIT’s Media Lab and Sloan School of Management will research issues such as:
– Mobile Shopping: Exploring the use of mobile personal devices, such as mobile phones, palmtop computers, and pagers to provide consumers the ability to shop anywhere, anytime.
– Electronic Exchanges: Examining techniques for creating marketplaces in which buyers and sellers can be brought together on issues concerning more than just price.
– Software Agents: Suggesting which product to buy, which vendor to purchase from, and the terms of the transaction.
– Profiling and Privacy: Researching issues such as the representation of the e-profile, privacy of e-profile data, storage and location of the profile, user control of the data and personalization of the customer relationship.
– Trust, Brand and Reputations: Examining mechanisms for building and maintaining brand equity and trust in the electronic environment, researching the role of reputation in differentiating among merchants and increasing transaction volume, as well as setting competitive price points.
-IE Staff