The smart card we use in our day to day life is a plastic card embedded with an integrated chip which provides for memory capacity and computing capability. There are multiple application of this card like it can be used as a medical card to store the medical history of the person, a debit/credit card to make payments, a metro or train pass and so on. Smart cards are preferred over the magnetic strip card as they incorporate advanced version of encryption and authentication technologies ensuring high degree of security.
Please refer the below link to get more technical insights on this. Learn more share more.
http://www.smartcardalliance.org/resources/pdf/CP_What_Who_Why_Final.pdf