Hologram Industry News

The International Hologram Manufacturers Association’s Excellence in Holography Awards has shown how innovation continues to push the boundaries for new holographic applications.

This year’s awards were presented at the dinner of the annual holography conference Holopack•Holo-print® in Budapest, Hungary in November. They recognise outstanding industry achievement and are presented to organisations who have introduced the most innovative or commercially viable hologram product or technique over the year.

The quality of entries was as high as ever with award winners demonstrating that ground breaking technology coupled with imaginative applications reinforces the important role holography plays, particularly in tackling anti-counterfeiting and authentication.

Holostik India Ltd has created a technique for using low optical density (OD) metalizing on holographic embossing without touching the sealing side of PVC, enabling blister packs to be produced with the hologram on the blister side, which won the ‘Innovation in Holographic Production ’ category.

This advanced hologram for blister packaging can save time and money in production as it does not require changes to the set up of existing packaging machines. Metalizing also enhances the barrier property of PVC blister film while a high temperature scratch proof coating on the hologram, which can be transparent or coloured, was also praised for its technical excellence.

A new holographic security film on polycarbonate (PC) from optical solutions provider JDSU, scooped the prize for the ‘Best Applied Security Product’. Holofuse™ is a laminate layer for PC ID cards, so it requires no additional card manufacturing stage, and the material bonds at the molecular level. It thwarts ID and passport counterfeiters because the holographic layer is integral and cannot be removed from the rest of the card.

Another development came from Specialized Enterprise Holography LLC, which has developed a new holographic security feature for potential ID and document applications among others. Its new T.I.G.R.A. (Transparent Interacting Gratings) security device won the ‘Innovation in Holographic Technique’ category following its appearance as part of the design of a special project dedicated to the famous Ukrainian scientist Ivan Pulyui, whose pioneering work contributed to the discovery of X-rays.

T.I.G.R.A. comprises two holograms, each partially demetallised in a pattern of lines, so that when these are mounted together they produce a dynamic moiré pattern. Control of the period and layout of the lines determines the moiré pattern, so that this can be part of the design of the seen image.

Decorative paper producer Hazen Paper won the ‘Best Origination’ Award for an eye-catching holographic calendar. The ‘Smooth Sailing’ 2009 calendar was recognised for its innovative use of advanced holographic technology combined with opaque and translucent inks to create high impact, visually striking imagery.

The potential use of holography in intellectual property protection was illustrated in a ground breaking project by Optaglio, which won the ‘Best Applied Decorative Product’. The company used holographic technology as an integral part of a publication featuring stories by young mid-European based writers. The publication, produced for Platform Culture Central Europe, uses tiny holograms to hold the complete works in nanotext together with the authors’ portraits.

The Brian Monaghan Award for Business Achievement was made to Dino Radice of Centro Grafico DG in recognition of his transformation of the company from an intaglio printer to a hologram and holographic substrate producer. This has been achieved not only by re-positioning the company but also through the installation of purpose-built equipment to enable Centro Grafico to become a highly respected supplier of films to surface-relief hologram producers.

Organised by the IHMA, the 17thannual Excellence in Holography Awards - sponsored by industry newsletter Holography News® - recognise outstanding industry success and achievement.

The awards go to those organisations that have introduced the most innovative or commercially viable hologram product or technique over the year.

Delegates from the worldwide holography community attended this year’s presentations at the 20th Holopack•Holo-print® conference, held - fittingly - in Budapest, the birthplace of the inventor of the hologram, Denis Gabor.

A display of products from the winners and runners-up was also on show at the conference, signalling the breadth and depth of the technology’s applications and commercial span.

Presenting the awards, outgoing IHMA chairman Philip Hudson, said: “Innovation and quality were again to the fore and congratulations to the winners for their outstanding contribution to the holographic industry over the past year. They have demonstrated the highest technical expertise to design and deliver extremely effective, eye-catching and cost effective holographic solutions which continue to push the boundaries.”

The winners and companies that were highly commended were each awarded a special holographic glass trophy, supplied by Hspace of Canada.

For additional information on the projects and photos, visit the website for the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (www.ihma.org).

List of Awards and Commendations

Innovation in Holographic Technique
Award: Specialized Enterprise Holography for Ivan Pulyui
Commended: Holostik India Ltd for Pisco Peru Plata

Innovation in Holographic Production and OEM Product
Award: Holostik India Limited for its innovative holographic blister packaging
Commended: Optaglio s.r.o. for OVMesh™

Best Origination
Award: Hazen Paper Company for ‘Smooth Sailing with Hazen Paper’ 2009 calendar

Best Applied Security Product
Award: JDSU for HoloFuse™
Commended: Holostik India Ltd for Vanali

Best Applied Decorative Product
Award: Opataglio for Platform Culture Central Europe
Commended: Wrestlemania 25th Anniversary Program Booklet

Brian Monaghan Award for Business Innovation
Award: Dino Radice, Centro DG S.P.A

Schreiner MediPharm, a Germany-based provider of pharmaceutical labeling products, has developed a transparent hologram seal that provides evidence of tampering and counterfeiting to ensure the safety of packaged pharmaceutical products. The seal is fixed with a heavy duty adhesive and any attempts to peel it off would damage the packaging surface. Also, the seal features a 2D single–image design and dynamic special effects that would make counterfeiting especially difficult.

The transparency of the seal ensures that variable data such as batch information remains legible and intact. The Transparent-Hologram-Seal is economical for small volume orders. The seal was developed in conjunction with Schreiner MediPharma’s sister company, Schreiner ProSecure, which specializes in authentication, tamper-protection and track and trace solutions.
Sources: http://www.labelsandlabeling.com/news/schreiner_medipharm_introduces_transpare

02-Oct-2009: Two companies in Germany’s Schreiner Group have developed a transparent holographic seal that can be incorporated into a tamper-evident label.

The technology meets the requirement for security seals with anti-counterfeiting features, which are a key pillar of the European Commission’s proposed an amendment to Directive 2001/83/EC, which is designed to prevent the entry of fake medicines into the EU supply chain.

Schreiner ProSecure and sister company Schreiner MediPharm developed the transparent holographic seal. They say it provides “reliable evidence of tampering and counterfeiting attempts by a void effect that is triggered when the box is opened for the first time,” according to a company statement.

The seal is equipped with a heavy-duty adhesive, and any attempt to peel it off will damage the surface of the packaging. In addition, the seal features a 2D single-image design and dynamic kinematic effects which make counterfeiting more difficult.

The transparency of the seal means variable data such as batch information remains legible, according to Schreiner.

http://www.securingpharma.com

Pharmaceutical counterfeiting and purchasing medicines from the illegal distributions channels have become more and more common and a big problem in India. With the sale of spurious drugs increasing in New Delhi (NCR) by 25 percent per annum, the creation of the NCR Drugs Protection Authority to monitor the activities of fake drugs manufacturers is on the anvil.
For complete story click the link; drug-counterferiting.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.

New Delhi: 2 December 2007
Holograms are the best method pharma companies can used to fight against counterfeiters. According to Mr. U K Gupta, CMD of Holostik India Limited the Indian hologram business is growing at a rate of 30-35% annually and it will increase more as the counterfeiting drug industry in India is approx $ US 1 billion.
For more news, please click the link:
2-december-2007.pdf

Pune-based pharma packaging company Bilcare Research has launched a product to help check the menace of counterfeit drugs. The product has a label with a unique bar code made out of nanotechnology and fingerprinting.
The customer has to swipe the drug packet in the scanner or at select ATMs to verify the authenticity of the drug. MNC pharma major Pfizer vice-president John L LaMattina was also present at the function, which was attended by former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
Sources: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

According to a recent survey by Mckinsey & Company Indian pharma industry has the highest growth rate
among all spending categories.� � Present India pharmaceutical market was estimated at $6.3 billion in 2005. It is expected to touch $20 billion by 2015, with an compounded annual growth rate of 12.3 per cent, the study said.� Between 2000 and 2005, the pharma market witnessed a growth rate of 9 per cent. As per sources “� In terms of scale, Indian pharmaceutical market, which is ranked 14th in the world, would be among top 10 by 2015 in the world overtaking Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey”.� The incremental� � growth of USD 14 billion over the next decade is likely to be the third largest among all markets.
Sources: www.economictimes.com

Worldwidely holograms are used as by pharmaceutical companies as a security product for their brand protection. The Holospot is new weapon against counterfeiting. A� holospot security mark is a multilayer label with a small data field containing several safety features.� �
Holospot is a self-adhesive polymer label with an information field of only a few square millimetres. It is firmly attached to the product and contains various overt and covert security features inscribed into the data carrier with a high-resolution laser. It is a protected technolgoy suited for high-security counterfeit protection and effective product tracing.
Source: http://medienservice.land-der-ideen.de/en/ms,58,0,article-64734.html

Smart Holograms is exploiting a technology that uses chemically engineered holograms to detect the presence of specific human disease analytes. The holograms require little or no instrumentation and will change their color when in contact with the target indicator.� Their first product based on this technology is a novel glucose sensor for diabetes self-testing.
Source: http://www.holokits.com/holography_news.htm