Hologram Industry News

After much debate and delay the Ministry of Shiping, Road Transport and Highways notified the introduction of High Security Registration Number Plates (HSRNP)-touted as one of the best anti-theft systems for vehicles-the ambitious plan will finally set takes off in six months.

From this november, these number plates are going to be mandatory and fiexed on all new vehicles. The new high security number plates will nationwide, sport a uniform font and a unique hologram that cannot be counterfeited. The new number plate will also be much more durable and would not lose its attibutes for five years. These number plates are estimated to cost about Rs 2500 per vehicle and cannot be easily removed and replaced.

With features like these, they are not easy to temper;
a) Embossed registration numbers as well as chromium hologram on the aluminium plates.
b) Unique laser numbering containing the alphanumeric identification of testing agencies and manufactures.
c) Rear registration numbers plates fitted with non-reusable snap locks to make them temper proff.
d) A third chrmoium-based registration plate in the form of sticker to be attached to the windshield. It will contain the number of the engine and chasis, along with the name of the registering authority. If tempered with, it self-destructs.
e) In front and rear registration plates, the letter “IND” in blue hot-stamped to the plates.
f) A retro-reflective film, bearing a verification inscription “India” at an inclination of 45 degrees.

Sources:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/316275.html
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/tamper-proof-number-plates-for-vehicles-soon_10046574.html
http://www.businessline.in
http://pcquest.ciol.com/content/Implementationstrategies/2005/105060201.asp
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/High-security_number_plates_SC_gives_govt_six_months/rssarticleshow/3023392.cms

Imperial Tobacco has developed a special edition holographic pack of Lambert & Butler to mark the cigarette marque’s 10 years as the UK’s biggest FMCG brand.
Hologram pack

Iain Watkins, trade communications manager at Imperial Tobacco, said: “To stay at the number one spot for ten years is no mean feat and to mark this achievement we have launched special edition holographic packs.
“It is also the first time a registered hologram has been used on a tobacco product, setting a new standard for product packaging.”
Source: www.ihma.org
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VII ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF MD & CEO’S OF HOLOGRAM INDUSTRY
ORGANISER HoMAI- (Hologram Manufacturers Association of India)

HoMAI is organizing VII ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING on 3rd May 2008 at Crown Plaza, New Friends Colony, New Delhi. At this occasion HoMAI is organizing a head to head business meeting of all delegates & professionals to understand the industry & its requirements.

Opportunity for Participant:
There is a prospect for your company:
• To exclusively market your company (We choose only one sponsor from your industry segment).
• To expand & Build new business relationships.
• To retain relationship with existing clients and business partners.
• For head to head interaction with decisions makers in Hologram Industries in India.

Other Benefits:
• Display your marketing materials and invite your prospects to attend the conference at a special rate available through you as an exhibiting sponsor.
• Occasion to give 15-20 minutes of presentation to the general audience
• Company logo to appear on all event-related marketing materials including website, email announcements, Newsletter, signage and program.
• Company banner prominently displayed at the conference
• Recognition as a key event sponsor during event welcome, closing remarks and event publicity
• Two complimentary conference admission
• Discounted registration fees for your references.
• A complimentary copy of the e-Proceedings Conference CD-ROM.

To participate in the event / to become a sponsor / paper presentation, please contact C S Jeena at +91-9818281116 or Email at cjhomai@gmail.com.

Holograms and RFIDs are the similar technologies used by companies as a method for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection. Now the two technologies are coming in a combo pack with double protection to prevent pirates selling counterfeits.

Hitachi with Toppan has launched the world’s first hologram-toting IC tag. The ‘ IC Hologram’ combines the two technologies with a view to making tracking and verifying the authenticity of a product as watertight as possible. Future applications are likely to include using it to secure batches of medicines, but for now it’s going to keep tabs on really important stuff like designer perfumes and handbags.

The hologram element is costly to fake without large-scale facilities, while the RFID data is encrypted and even more difficult to crack. On top of those, the sticker they are rooted to can’t be peeled off a product without breaking into pieces.

Trade in counterfeiting and pirated goods cost global economy $ 650 billion annually. Toppan says this is crucial as “tens of trillions of yen (£100 billion+)” are lost to counterfeiters every year. More importantly, it reckons it can scoop up ¥4 billion (£19 million) in annual sales of the stickers.
Sources: http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/worlds-first-holographic-rfid-tag-252668

The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) had launched the Olympic Hologram Snowboarding coin. The innovative hologram coin celebrates the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The $25 sterling silver coin is part of the Silver Hologram Coin Series, which includes 15 different designs or themes. The snowboarding theme is the first for 2008 and the sixth in the hologram series that will continue through the end of 2009. Only 45,000 coins will be minted for each theme.

Sources: http://www.mint.ca/royalcanadianmintpublic

Holography dates from 1947, when British / Hungarian scientist Dr. Dennis Gabor developed the theory of holography while working to improve the resolution of an electron microscope.

About Dr. Dennis Gábor
(Adapted from his autobiography)

Dr. Dennis Gábor
(b. 1900, Budapest - d. 1979, London)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1971 for his investigation and development of holography.

Dr. Dennis Gábor was born in Budapest (Hungary) on 5 June 1900. He studied electrical engineering first in Budapest, later in Berlin from Techniscje Hochschule, where he finished his academic education with the award of Doctorate of Engineering in 1927. His doctorate work was the development of one of the first high speed cathode ray oscillographs and in the course of this, made the first iron-shrouded magnetic electron lens. In 1927 he joined Siemens & Halske AG Berlin, where he started investigations on gas discharges and plasmas. The most far reaching result of his six years with Siemens & Halske was his invention of the molybdenum tape seal, which is used to this day in all high-pressure quartz-mercury lamps. In what Dennis calls his “first lesson in serendipity,” he invented the mercury lamp while attempting to develop a cadmium lamp which proved unsuccessful.

In 1934 Gabor went to the British Thomson-Houston Co. Research Laboratory, Rugby, England, on an inventor’s agreement. . His work on gas discharge tubes gave him recognition in the BTH Research Laboratory where he remained until 1948. He also developed a system of stereoscopic cinematography, and in the last year at BTH carried out the basic experiments in holography, called “wave front reconstruction”.

On January 1, 1949 he joined the Imperial College of Science & Technology in London, first as a Reader in Electronics, and later as Professor of Applied Electron Physics, until 1967. From 1949-67 Gabor carried out some 20, mostly experimental, investigations with his Ph.D. assistants. They cleared up the “Langmuir Paradox”; the surprisingly fast apparent establishment of Maxwellian distributions of electrons in a low-pressure plasma, which had worried Gabor for 25 years. They also made a Wilson cloud chamber, in which the velocity of particles became measurable by impressing on them a high frequency, critical field, which produced time marks on the paths, at the points of maximum ionization. They also developed: a holographic microscope; a new electron-velocity spectroscope; an analogue computer which was a universal, non-linear “learning” predictor, recognizer and simulator of time series; a flat, thin color television tube; and a new type of thermionic converter. Theoretical work included communication theory, plasma theory, magnetron theory, and a scheme of fusion.

After his retirement in 1967 he remained connected with the Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow and became Staff Scientist of CBS Laboratories, Stamford, Conn. where he collaborated with the President, life-long friend, and father of the color television, Dr. Peter C. Goldmark, in many new schemes of communication and display. Though he was always a passionate scientist and inventor, he was almost equally interested in social problems. In his spare time he wrote the books Inventing the Future (1963), Innovations (1970), and The Mature Society (1972).
He wrote, “Though I still have much unfinished technological work on my hands, I consider this as my first priority in my remaining years.”
(Editor’s Note: He passed away on 9 July 1979 in London.)

Honors
• Fellow of the Royal Society, 1956.
• Hon. Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1964.
• D.Sc. Univ. of London, 1964, Hon. D.Sc. Univ. of Southampton, 1970, and Technological University Delft, 1971.
• Thomas Young Medal of Physical Society London, 1967.
• Cristoforo Colombo Prize of Int. Inst. Communications, Genoa, 1967.
• Albert Michelson Medal of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 1968. Rumford Medal of the Royal Society, 1968.
• Medal of Honor of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers,1970. “ For his ingenious & exciting discovery and verification of the principles of holography”,
• Prix Holweck of the French Physical Society, 1971.
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1970.

Links:
Autobiography
http://www.de.nobel.se/laureates/physics-1971-1-autobio.html
Photos:
www.hologram.in
The 1971 Nobel Prize Presentation Speech:
http://www.de.nobel.se/laureates/physics-1971-press.html
An interview with Gabor:
http://www.photonicshistory.com/70-79-4.html

University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes. A 3-D holographic image that can be updated and viewed without special glasses may soon find its way from a UA optics lab to operating rooms and battlefield command centers.

The holographic displays – which are viewed without special eyewear – are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require “situational awareness.”

And what the entertainment and advertising industries could do with a lifelike image apparently appearing in thin air is anyone’s guess.
The unique component in this holographic system — a 4-inch-square glass-and-polymer display surface — is its ability to change, to be updated, rewritten, says Savas Tay, the lead scientist on this invention.
That holographic bird on your credit card can’t turn into something else every few minutes, but Tay’s display can take an image rendered in three dimensions — initially photographed or computer-generated — and display it on the display surface, followed by another and another.
The technology will be said. “Imagine that when you walk into the supermarket or department store, you could see a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display,” he said. It would be an attention-grabber.
And no one yet knows where the advertising and entertainment industries will go with possible applications, Peyghambarian said. “Imagine that when you walk into the supermarket or department store, you could see a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display,” he said.

“This is a new type of device, nothing like the tiny hologram of a dove on your credit card,” UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian said. “The hologram on your credit card is printed permanently. You cannot erase the image and replace it with an entirely new three-dimensional picture.”

“Holography has been around for decades, but holographic displays are really one of the first practical applications of the technique,” UA optical scientist Savas Tay said.

Dynamic hologram displays could be made into devices that help surgeons track progress during lengthy and complex brain surgeries, show airline or fighter pilots any hazards within their entire surrounding airspace, or give emergency response teams nearly real-time views of fast-changing flood or traffic problems, for example.

And no one yet knows where the advertising and entertainment industries will go with possible applications, Peyghambarian

“Three-dimensional imaging techniques are already commonly used in medicine, for example, in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) or CAT scan (Computerized Axial Tomography) techniques,” Tay said. “However, the huge amount of data that is created in three dimensions is still being displayed on two-dimensional devices, either on a computer screen or on a piece of paper. A great amount of data is lost by displaying it this way. So I think when we develop larger, full-color 3D holograms, every hospital in the world will want one.”

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoa-uo020508.php

CONTACTS:
Nasser Peyghambarian (520-621-4649; nnp@u.arizona.edu) Savas Tay (520-245-9722; savas.tay@gmail.com)
It updates 3-D images; may aid doctors
By Dan Sorenson
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.11.2008
advertisement

Very soon holograms will be made in less than a minute. University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes. The work, which started about two years ago, was done in collaboration with Nitto Denko Technical Corp. and was funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

The holographic displays - which are viewed without special eyewear - are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require “situational awareness.”

According to the sources the technology will be helpful in medical science. “Three-dimensional imaging techniques are already commonly used in medicine, for example, in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT scan (computerized tomography) techniques,” Tay said. “However, the huge amount of data that is created in three dimensions is still being displayed on two-dimensional devices, either on a computer screen or on a piece of paper. A great amount of data is lost by displaying it this way. So I think when we develop larger, full-color 3-D holograms, every hospital in the world will want one.”
Sources : http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uoa-uo020508.php
Contact: Lori Stiles
lstiles@email.arizona.edu
520-626-4402
University of Arizona
hologram.pdf

Created by HoMAI : Wednesday, 6 Feb 2008
Pharmaceutical counterfeiting and purchasing medicines from illegal distributions channels have become more and more common and a big problem in our country. Difference medicines and drugs are involved. An alarmingly high proportion of anti-malarial drugs brought in pharmacies and shops are counterfeit, and the problem has only increased significantly in recent years. Recent and widespread appearance of counterfeit artesunate tablets in several countries in South-East Asia including India poses a serious threat to health in this region. In some countries, up to 50 percent medicines are fakes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the growing counterfeit drug market is going to be worth a hefty $75 billion globally by 2010.

The difficulty to monitor the spread of fake drugs is that counterfeit medicines are easy to manufacture- they look like genuine drugs in packaging and labeling. Another problems is the wide availability of controlled drugs-narcotics, benzodiazepines, amphetamines and other internationally controlled drugs are easily developed in many developing countries. In addition, countries with weak regulations are most vulnerable to the marketing of counterfeit drugs. Illegal pharmacies and the sale of medicines over the Internet have aggravated the problem further. The rapid expansions of unregulated markets has dramatically worsened the situation. The problem of counterfeit medication and abuse of pharmaceuticals containing controlled substances bought without prescriptions has increased alarmingly and poses graves risks to public health.

The counterfeit drug industry is currently booming with estimates that the black market would reach $75 billion by 2010. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, barcodes and various other solutions have been offered to the industry as security measures. New holograms products like the ones manufactured by an innovative new platform technology which can react to simple stimuli such as breath or water to reveal a hidden image or change colour to confirm a product’s authenticity, promise to be a novel arrow in the quiver of the pharma industry in its attempts to shoot down drug counterfeiters. These smart holograms as they are called, use a variety of polymers between layers of film which are turned to react to different stimuli. The polymers swell as a result of the stimuli and light is refracted in a different way, giving a visual response to verify authenticity. The smart holograms can be integrated into a supply chain to any extent a manufacture chooses, as the hidden image can be designed to fade and reappear as the stimulus is re-applied at a later stage, or employed as a single use feature with the revealed image remaining permanently.

The holograms can be used as a track and trace mechanism. and combined with specialization as well as hidden images to produce both overt and covert security features. The extensive technological research that has gone into the product and the manufacturing complexity will make it an unattractive option for counterfeiters, as is being fervently hoped by the industry.

Wednesday: Created by HoMAI
Packaging is the dress code of any brand. According to wikipedia “Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging is heavily integrated into our daily lives, we see it all around us, on everyday items such as chocolate bars and potato chip (crisp) packets. The main use for packaging is protection of the goods inside, but packaging also provides us with a recognizable logo, or packaging, we instantly know what the goods are inside. If you get it right, you are sure to impress all those who matter. In this age of cut-throat competition nothing cuts through the clutter like unique packaging. Not every good packaging idea comes with a price tag. A little creative thinking is all that is needed.

Now, Welcome to the new age of holographic packaging - The art of future dressing up of brand.

It’s not often that a simple design element can be so flexible in its use and so remarkable in its effectiveness.

The impact of holography on packaging is immediate, getting the attention of your customers and moving your product off the shelf. In this era the innovative use of holographic packaging has a proven track record of increasing sales.

Brach & Brock Candy Company projected a three-fold increase in sales using holographic packaging.

“Sparkling hologram bags that practically glow on the shelf to catch shoppers’ attention.” That’s how Brach & Brock Confections describes the packaging for its new Street Sharks Gummy Candies and Batman & Robin Fruit Snacks and Gummy Candy.”

An example: Blanton Whiskey added a hologram to its bottle and this led to an instant and increased sale .

The holographic packaging provides eye catching visual impact, authentication, and added value. In reality, all products are subject to counterfeiting. Hence proper holographic packaging on consumer goods serve an important way for brand protection.

In February 1999, when Colgate-Palmolive Canada decided to enter the whitening toothpaste market for the first time, it knew it had to capture attention quickly in a lively, competitive environment … and the Colgate name alone wasn’t going to carry the day. The company hoped to win over loyal users of competitive brands, and persuade even users of its own standard toothpaste to upgrade to its new brand, “Colgate Sensation.” As a late entry into the marketplace, it was likely to be facing an uphill climb. Colgate-Palmolive’s global headquarters in New York recommended using a holographic package to break through shelf clutter, grab consumer attention and establish the presence of the new product in the market.

According to Philip Durocher Director of Marketing “ We wanted to present the public with a premium package,A package that would reflect what people think their smiles should be like–sparkling and dazzling.”

Holographic packaging films are ideal for flexible or rigid packaging. In an already crowded marketplace, the ability of a product to get noticed due to the sheer packaging is an invaluable tool to retain and increase market share. Application of holographic packaging is already extremely diverse ranging from toothpaste packaging to chewing gum wrappers. Hologram packaging includes flexible packaging, board packaging, rigid box, pack packaging etc. There are several reasons why holographic packaging is becoming crucial in today’s context. Both the ethical and OTC environments demand better, more efficient packaging. There are many reasons which improves the usage of holographic packaging.

The advantages of holographic packaging are manifold:

Inherent security of holography against counterfeit
Customer perceives higher value addition
Greater & High impact at the point of sale
Enhanced aesthetics ensuring a Premium look
“According to recently published report by PIRA hologram types and geographic markets will show the highest levels of growth and offer the most opportunities to hologram manufacturers.”

Problems of packaging terrorism and product piracy are increasing. The use of holography is a cost-effective way of countering these which, at the same time, adds to the attractiveness of the pack. ACROSS THE whole range of packaging applications, there is no more creative or secure medium than holography.