This editorial’s author is Zhang Chao, President of the Zhongguancun Industry & Information Research Institute of Two-Dimensional Code Technology (ZIIOT).
As global digitalisation accelerates, Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies have become essential infrastructure connecting the physical and digital worlds. Establishing a universal, trusted identification system is a core requirement in an era of Internet of Things (IoT). As part of the ISO/IEC 15459 serial standards, MA identification is a global identification architecture designed for an interconnected world, developed and maintained by the Zhongguancun Industry & Information Research Institute of Two-Dimensional Code Technology (ZIIOT).
- Overview of MA
MA identification is an identification system based on international standards, with “MA” as its root prefix. It provides globally unique, standards-compliant identifiers within the ISO/IEC 15459 framework, assigning unique digital identities to physical entities, digital assets, organisations and other entities. In 2018, ZIIOT received joint recognition from ISO, CEN and AIM Global as an international Issuing Agency.
As of 2026, MA identification has been adopted in more than 30 countries and regions, serving over 560,000 user organisations and issuing a cumulative total of more than 1.1 trillion codes across industrial manufacturing, healthcare, digital cities and other sectors.
- Core Features
MA uses a segmented, extensible coding architecture that combines standards compliance with flexibility in distributed code issuance. It decouples identifiers from data carriers and application systems, supports code mapping across identification systems, and accommodates existing identification schemes to reduce system modification costs. Its distributed, federated identifier-resolution architecture allows each country to independently manage its national root node.
- Application Scenarios
MA identification is used across multiple sectors. In industry, it has been accredited as a national-level Industrial Internet identification system in China, supporting full lifecycle management and supply chain collaboration. In healthcare, MA serves as a unique code issuance system for medical devices under the Unique Device Identification (UDI) framework, as well as for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, enabling end-to-end traceability. In green trade, it aligns with the European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) compliance requirements, providing identification support for cross-border trade.