NFC builds upon RFID by allowing two-way communication between enabled devices. Uses include contactless payment, access control and media sharing.

Moo has embedded an NFC chip, which is programmed to link to a landing page featuring the user's contact information, in the sandwich layer of its multi-layer Luxe business cards. As with the Luxe cards, Moo manufactures the multi-layer NFC cards in-house.

Starting from this week, the first 150,000 customers to place a business card order will receive a complimentary NFC-enabled Moo business card as part of the public beta.

Moo, which is planning a full roll-out of the NFC-enabled cards in 2013, will use the open beta to gather information about how customers use the technology ahead of the full launch.

Richard Moross, chief executive and founder of Moo.com, told PrintWeek: "NFC starts to make paper smart: it can link to a website; open a map showing the route from your current location to a restaurant; initiate a Skype call; or contain a coupon.

"There are so many potential applications so, rather than us being prescriptive about what people can do with it, we want to learn from our customers and harness their good ideas to build into the final product.

"We're going to be looking to our customers to give us their views before we move to next stage."

Because the chips are rewriteable, anyone with an NFC-enabled smartphones will be able to write and rewrite the URL on the chip to link to whatever digital property they choose.

Moo gave the examples of an estate agent highlighting different daily listings; a local retailer linking to seasonal sales and promotions; or a jewellry designer at a craft fair linking to a product catalogue.

Moross said that the NFC beta allied with Moo's recent acquisition of the design-led personal identity site Flavors.me, demonstrated the company's commitment to "expanding online personal and professional identity creation".

"Our goal for NFC is to allow businesses to expand the possibilities of face-to-face networking to include their digital identities," he added.

One potential setback is the relative lack of NFC-enabled smartphones on the market at the moment and, in particular, Apple's decision to date not to include the technology in either its iPhone or iPad.

However, Moross dismissed concerns that this could limit the uptake of NFC-enabled business cards amongst the important demographic of tech-savvy creatives. "The world is bigger than the Apple iPhone," he said. "Of my senior managers only two of us out of five have an iPhone and we're a tech company based in Shoreditch.

"There are plenty of other smartphones out there and anyone who is interested in the world of mobile payments is also going to be interested in this technology."

On the matter of pricing, Moross said that no decision had been reached yet. "We obviously know what the cost to us is but we haven't made a decision yet on how it will be priced or whether it will be something we offer as standard," he added.

"On a macro level, making a piece of technology like a business card alive, aware, and smart is a good thing and we know there is going to be lots of interest and lots of demand for this. We've had lots of product innovation and launches this year and we're particularly excited about this one."