11:32 a.m. - FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Officials are hoping "smart tags" will bring thousands of jobs to North Dakota.

About 170 business, academic and industry leaders discussed the technology, called radio frequency identification, at a session sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., on Wednesday.

California-based Alien Technology is planning to build a plant at North Dakota State University's Research and Technology Park to make the smart tags -- pepper-flake sized tracking devices that use the technology.

The plant is to open in 2006, said Tony Grindberg, the park's executive director.

Within the next six years, Alien anticipates 50 billion tags to be shipped annually, said Stav Prodromou, its chief executive officer.

"Many estimate the value of the RFID industry at over $1 billion this year, with tenfold growth expected in the next decade," Dorgan said.

"My goal is to make North Dakota the epicenter for RFID technology and production," he said. "What that could mean is literally several thousand new high-paying jobs for our region in a decade or sooner."

Alan Estevez, an assistant Defense Department secretary in charge of handling and tracking $67 billion in U.S. military inventory, said the department is requiring all its suppliers to use smart tags by next year.

"I want that soldier to have what he wants, when he wants it," Estevez said. "RFID is going to be a great tool to accomplish that."

Kerry Pauling, a spokesman for Wal-Mart stores, said the company is requiring its top 100 distributors to use smart tags by January and all suppliers to use them by 2007.

Sangtae Kim, a Purdue University professor, said the technology gives such regions as the Red River Valley new opportunities, though they will be competing with such countries as China, Korea and Singapore.

"Many of those countries have plans to invest 1 to 2 percent of their gross national product into research," Kim said. "If we don't do the same level of research as these other countries, then obviously, they might overtake us."

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