Paragon ID & Dracula Technologies Scale Light-Powered BLE Tags for Green Traceability
Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies are strengthening their partnership to bring battery-free, light-powered Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) tags from pilot into full industrial deployment.
Backed by a multi-year product order of several hundred thousand LAYER® organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules per year, the two companies are now scaling XgenTag-L globally for high-volume, sustainable IoT and traceability applications.
XgenTag-L is the first fully energy-autonomous, light-powered BLE smart tag on the market. The tag uses Dracula Technologies’ printed LAYER® OPV modules to harvest ambient indoor light and power the BLE chip. In bright conditions, it can transmit signals every second – enabling near real-time tracking and geolocation without batteries, maintenance, or additional infrastructure.
In many use cases, XgenTag-L communicates directly with standard smartphones via an app provided by Paragon ID, offering a plug-and-play path to connected, sustainable asset tracking.
“The success of XgenTag-L demonstrates that sustainable IoT is not a future vision – it’s happening now and delivering value,” says 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 global scale with a cost structure that makes large deployments viable.”
“We are proud to deepen our collaboration with Paragon ID, a partner that shares our vision of sustainable and scalable IoT,” adds 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 system integration and traceability expertise with Dracula Technologies’ inkjet-printed LAYER® OPV modules. The modules harvest energy from low-intensity indoor light to power the tag’s electronics. The result: a BLE tag that can continuously transmit data without ever needing a battery replacement.
Moving from pilot projects to industrial rollout, the multi-year order secures volume production and supports the next step: cost reduction, higher integration levels and miniaturization. The focus is on integrating light-powered BLE into a wide variety of tag and label formats to address demanding, high-volume environments.
Sustainable IoT at Scale
By eliminating batteries, XgenTag-L significantly reduces CO₂ emissions, avoids e-waste, and removes the need for critical raw materials such as rare earths and heavy metals. Designed for more than 10 years of operation, the solution can cut total cost of ownership by up to 35%, with ROI achievable in as little as six months – especially in large fleets and distributed asset environments.
In the next phase of their collaboration, Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies are targeting a broad range of use cases, including:
Supply chain & logistics: Real-time tracking of roll cages, reusable containers, tools and pallets
Healthcare: Asset tracking and monitoring of temperature-sensitive materials
Transport & ground handling: Visibility and maintenance monitoring for ground-support equipment
Retail & circular economy: Smart packaging and automated inventory management
Aviation: Connected tracking of trolleys, ULDs and high-value equipment and components
With XgenTag-L and LAYER® OPV technology, Paragon ID and Dracula Technologies are positioning light-powered BLE as a key building block for the next generation of sustainable, maintenance-free IoT.
Get in contact to discuss your project and explore deployment opportunities.