Isle of Wight Festival trial new 'smart' wristbands

While the weather dominated the headlines at this year's Isle of Wight Festival, there was some tech news to come out of this weekend's event.

Ten thousand attendees to the festival were given new state of the art wristbands, not only did they grant the usual access to the campsite and the arena. but they also carried with them new radio frequency technology (RFID) - enabling punters to pay for food and beverages over the weekend.

Holders of the special wristbands could make transactions of up to £20 a time on site concessions with the ability to top up in various locations around the festival. One very nifty feature being that any unused credit is automatically refunded to your account once the festival closes.

The wristbands are made by ID&C and their operations director Steve Daly revealed that Isle of Wight isn’t the only event adopting the technology: "There are a number of festivals throughout the UK, Europe and United States adopting the technology, and they’re all using entry wristbands as the intermediary. It’s a convenient way for fans to reap the benefits of the technology and enhance their festival experience."

For more information on the wristbands, head to www.idcband.co.uk