Paragon ID, a global leading provider of secure identification and traceability solutions, and Dracula Technologies, a pioneer in enabling battery-free IoT through energy harvesting from ambient indoor light, are reinforcing their long-standing partnership to accelerate the deployment of XgenTag-L, the first battery-free, light-powered Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) smart tags. This milestone marks the transition from pilot to large-scale industrial deployment, supported by a multi-year product order representing several hundred thousand LAYER® organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules per year.
Together, the two companies are joining forces to expand adoption in key sectors worldwide and to drive the development of sustainable, maintenance-free IoT solutions that eliminate batteries, reduce environmental impact, and enable high-volume scalability for global logistics and industrial applications. The objective is to reduce production costs, enable high-volume scale-up, and support more granular traceability in demanding supply chains.
“The success of XgenTag-L demonstrates that sustainable IoT is not a future vision; it’s happening now and delivering value,” said Eric Cariou, VP of New Product Development at Paragon ID. “By strengthening our collaboration with Dracula Technologies, we’re making this breakthrough technology accessible at a global scale across logistics, transport, aviation, healthcare, and retail, with a cost structure that makes large-scale deployment viable.”
“We are proud to deepen our collaboration with Paragon ID, a partner that shares our vision of sustainable and scalable IoT,” added Brice Cruchon, CEO and Founder of Dracula Technologies. “Our LAYER® energy-harvesting modules deliver the energy autonomy required for truly maintenance-free connected devices. Together, we’re proving that sustainability and industrial performance can go hand in hand globally.”
From innovation to industrial scale
Jointly developed over the past two years, XgenTag-L combines Paragon ID’s expertise in connected traceability and system integration with Dracula Technologies’ patented LAYER® OPV modules, which harvest energy from ambient light to power electronic devices. The XgenTag-L harvests ambient light to power its BLE chip. In bright conditions, the tag can transmit signals every second, enabling real-time tracking without ever needing a battery. The result is the world’s first fully energy-autonomous BLE tag available on the market, capable of continuous data transmission and geolocation without any batteries, maintenance, or dedicated infrastructure. In many environments, XgenTag-L operates seamlessly with customers’ smartphones via an application (APK) provided by Paragon ID, offering an immediate, plug-and-play path to sustainable traceability.
Accelerating the adoption of sustainable IoT
By removing batteries, the XgenTag-L drastically reduces CO2 emissions, eliminates e-waste, and avoids the use of critical raw materials like rare earths or heavy metals. It’s designed for 10+ years of maintenance-free operation, reducing total cost of ownership by up to 35% with ROI achieved in as little as 6 months.
In the next phase of their collaboration, Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies will focus on industrial optimization, miniaturization, and integration into multiple tag and label formats to serve a growing number of use cases:
- Supply chain & logistics: real-time tracking of roll cages, reusable containers, tools, and pallets.
- Healthcare: asset tracking and monitoring of temperature-sensitive materials.
- Transportation & logistics: visibility and maintenance monitoring for ground-handling equipment.
- Retail & circular economy: smart packaging and automated inventory management.
- Aviation: connected tracking of trolleys, Unit Load Devices (ULDs), and high-value equipment and components.
Click here to learn more about XgenTag-L.
