The Pinnacle of Design in the Security Sector: BioAffix NextBadge Returns with Three Awards from EPDA

The European Product Design Award (EPDA), recognized as one of the most established and prestigious authorities in the international industrial design world, shifted its focus this year beyond mere aesthetics, prioritizing parameters such as operational efficiency and resource management. In this prestigious arena, where projects providing direct solutions to the structural challenges of the global industry compete, Turkey’s BioAffix NextBadge stood out by securing three awards.

Furthermore, NextBadge has solidified its global success by receiving a sustainability award from the World Green Sustainable Design Award 2026 (WGSDA), a global symbol of the green transition.

Operational Costs and Waste Data in the Smart Card Industry

The current corporate identity and smart card ecosystem present a significant optimization challenge regarding sustainability and cost management. Data from global industry reports clearly reveal why the EPDA jury focused on structural solutions this year:

• Carbon Footprint: The approximately 6 billion plastic smart cards produced worldwide each year result in approximately 900 million kilograms (900,000 tons) of CO2 emissions. The production process of a single card, including logistics, leaves 50 grams of carbon in the environment.
• Recycling Costs: Corporate identity cards produced from first-generation PVC plastic cannot be processed in standard recycling lines due to the chips and integrated antennas they contain. Disposing of or converting these cards as e-waste using specialized methods imposes an additional operational cost of up to $0.30 per card on companies.

The Financial Impact of Workforce Turnover in the Tech Sector

In the post-pandemic era, workforce turnover at Silicon Valley-based global technology firms (such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.) has made the waste generated by plastic card usage more visible. According to data, more than 810,000 employees were laid off in the technology sector between 2022 and the first half of 2026. This circulation process, accompanied by similar levels of new hiring, means that hundreds of thousands of plastic cards are discarded, reprinted, and subjected to e-waste disposal processes with every personnel change or title update. For global-scale firms with tens of thousands of employees, this creates an additional budget item of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for card printing and waste management.

The EPDA Jury’s Focus: BioAffix NextBadge and Solution-Oriented Engineering

The EPDA jury’s reason for highlighting NextBadge this year is precisely its ability to eliminate these operational and financial costs. Developed by BioAffix, NextBadge is a smart ID solution featuring e-ink display technology that requires no batteries or charging. Unlike traditional smart cards, it can be reprogrammed multiple times for different personnel thanks to its e-ink screen. Since the hardware does not consume energy unless the visual on the card surface is changed, its battery-free structure also eliminates the risk of chemical waste.

In addition to its hardware features, the system stands out with its security infrastructure:

• It functions like a standard smart card thanks to its internal antenna, allowing biometric data to be embedded for high-level security.
• Working in harmony with BioQR technology, the system converts the user’s biometric data into an encrypted QR code.
• When this QR code is scanned at access control points, the data and the user’s face are verified in seconds, providing a flawless match.

Sustainability Certification with WGSDA 2026

The functional industrial design of NextBadge, recognized at the EPDA, was also awarded by the World Green Sustainable Design Award 2026 (WGSDA) for its direct contribution to the environment. This structural solution, which minimizes plastic card procurement, printing, and disposal costs, has positioned NextBadge strongly in global sustainability indices.