Stockholders' Equity of Identive Group, Inc. - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended			3 Months Ended							12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended					3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended												3 Months Ended									0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Aug. 07, 2013	Aug. 14, 2013	Nov. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2014 Contingent Consideration Classified as Equity	Mar. 31, 2014 Warrant	Jan. 31, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Jan. 31, 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Jun. 30, 2011 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Mar. 31, 2014 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Dec. 31, 2012 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Dec. 31, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan	Mar. 31, 2014 Inducement Grant	Mar. 13, 2014 Inducement Grant	Jun. 30, 2010 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Ten	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Eleven	Jun. 06, 2011 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Eleven	Jun. 06, 2011 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Eleven	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Incentive Plan Twenty Eleven	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Option and Incentive Plan	Mar. 31, 2014 Hirsch	Mar. 31, 2014 Hirsch Warrant	Mar. 31, 2014 Bluehill ID	Mar. 31, 2014 Bluehill ID Noncontrolling Interest	Mar. 31, 2014 Hercules loan Warrant Third Amendment	Mar. 31, 2014 Private Placement Warrant	Mar. 31, 2014 Private Placement Warrant Third Amendment	Dec. 31, 2011 Common Stock Private Placement	Mar. 31, 2014 Opus Bank	Mar. 31, 2014 Minimum Hirsch	Mar. 31, 2014 Maximum Hirsch	Mar. 31, 2014 Weighted Average Hirsch	Mar. 31, 2014 Credit Agreement Private Placement Warrant Third Amendment	Mar. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units	Dec. 31, 2013 Restricted Stock Units	Mar. 13, 2014 Restricted Stock Units Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Restricted Stock Units R S U One Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options One	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options One Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Two	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Two Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options	Mar. 31, 2013 Stock Options	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Inducement Grant	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Bluehill ID	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Minimum	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Maximum	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Five	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Three	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Options Four	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Option Plan 1997	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Option Plan 2000	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Option Plan 2007	Mar. 31, 2014 Stock Option Plan 2011	Mar. 31, 2014 Various Equity Incentive Plans	Mar. 31, 2014 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund	Apr. 16, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Mar. 31, 2014 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement Minimum	Apr. 17, 2013 Lincoln-Park-Agreement-Fund Purchase Agreement Maximum
Stockholders Equity [Line Items]
Issuance of common stock in connection with capital raise, net of issuance costs (in shares)		8,348,471																																																												1,754,386	3,200,000	2,500,000
Common stock issued in private placement, sales price		$ 0.85
Number of additional common stock to be purchased by the warrant		8,348,471
Warrant exercise price	$ 0.71	$ 1.00	$ 2.65	$ 3.00																												$ 0.99	$ 2.42	$ 3.03	$ 2.79
Issuance of common stock in connection with capital raise, net of issuance costs		$ 7,100,000		$ 2,601,000																																																										$ 1,500,000	$ 2,600,000	$ 1,900,000
Issuance cost of common stock in private placement		800,000
Cash paid to placement agent		600,000
Common stock to be issued for placement agent	1,000,000	1,000,000	4,100,000	4,700,000																				200,000								1,000,000
Additional warrants issued to purchase common stock		1,000,000
Private placement warrant term		4 years
Private placement warrant estimated volatility		91.57%																														92.09%
Private placement warrant risk free interest rate		1.08%																														1.73%
Private placement warrant fair value		4,000,000																														800,000
Purchase agreement, maximum amount of sale																																																													20,000,000
Common stock required to issue under the agreement																																																													251,799
Common stock required to issue under the agreement, additional shares																																																													323,741	32,374		72,087
Initial purchase value																																																														2,000,000
Initial purchase price per share																																																														$ 1.14
Purchase agreement term																																																														36 months
Aggregate shares that can be purchased subject to certain conditions																																																														18,000,000
Maximum number of common stock to be purchased from time to time																																																														100,000
Closing sale price of common stock																																																																	$ 0.50	$ 0.75
Underwriting expense																																																														500,000
Common stock, shares issued				78,411,000		75,079,000																																																								284,173
Warrant expiration period																																5 years
Warrant expiration date																								Apr. 30, 2014	Apr. 30, 2014							Mar. 31, 2019
Common stock to warrant holders upon exercise of the warrants																															400,000
Investment warrants exercisable period																								2 years
Common stock reserved for future issuance (in shares)				43,648,250				4,424,779	19,933,047			2,000,000	2,938,007				3,000,000		904,144	4,000,000		904,144	7,842,917		4,900,000	3,297,112	1,300,000	3,700,000	1,000,000	9,300,000						1,000,000										7,842,917			2,000,000										11,600,000	4,308,244
Employee stock purchase plan offering term												10 years
Annual increase in aggregate number of shares reserved for issuance under ESPP										750,000	750,000	750,000	2,938,007
Increase in the aggregate number of shares reserved for issuance under the ESPP as percentage of total shares outstanding												2.00%
Percentage of common stock purchase price of fair market value												85.00%
ESPP each offering period (in months)												6 months
Employee stock purchase plan offering, extended term														24 months
Temporary suspension effective date															Jan. 01, 2014
Granted				87,952		161,022																															430,000		500,000
Percentage of stock options vesting																																								25.00%		25.00%	25.00%	25.00%								100.00%
Stock options vesting period																																								1 year	3 years	4 years	1 year	1 year	3 years			10 years					1 year	4 years
Vesting term description																																								remaining shares vesting over three years in 12 equal quarterly installments								remaining options vesting over three years in 36 equal monthly installments
Weighted average risk-free interest rate																																																1.53%
Weighted average expected volatility																																																90.00%
Weighted average dividend yield																																																0.00%
Weighted average expected term																																																4 years 10 months 24 days
Unrecognized compensation expense				2,100,000																																	400,000			400,000								1,800,000
Unrecognized stock-based compensation expense, weighted average period of recognition				3 years 7 months 6 days												4 years																					4 years
Amount of non-qualified stock options granted				2,680,000		2,115,725												3,000,000	7,400,000
Amount of non-qualified stock options to be received as percentage of participant's base salary																		20.00%
Lock-up period from date of grant																		24 months
Authorized																					4,600,000
Number of shares available for grant				1,334,144		3,854,194	7,769,039													8,600,000
Issuance of common stock in connection with stock bonus and incentive plans (in shares)																			1,200,000
Stock options plans expiration period																																																		7 years	10 years
Percentage of stock options vesting after one year																																																					100.00%
Stock options, outstanding number				7,842,917		5,465,539	4,048,972																																																200,000	200,000	900,000	6,500,000
Weighted-average grant date fair value per option for options granted																																														$ 0.88	$ 1.34
Exercised				2,625	0	188
Aggregate restricted stock units outstanding																			400,000																		430,000
Accrued bonus				$ 400,000
Shares excluded from calculation of diluted loss per share				20,138,129	2,139,840