Banknote security features won two out of the five categories in the 2023 Excellence in Holography Awards, presented by the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) at the recent annual online Holography Conference.

The 2023 CashTech Innovation Awards, arranged by the thinktank CashEssentials and sponsored by Sesami, were presented at the Future of Cash conference, which took place 6-8 November in Istanbul.

At the awards ceremony held during the gala dinner at the Mint Directors Conference in Ottawa last month, the winner of the Best Circulating Coin category was the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) for the $2 Honey Bee coin, issued in 2022 as a joint collaboration with the Honey Bee Industry Council to mark the bicentennial of the establishment of the bee industry in Australia.

The 6th International Mint and Print (MAP) Conference took place in Dubai. Just under 200 delegates from around 90 institutions and 40 countries took part in the event, organised by Mazen Hamden, with approximately 25% attending for the first time.

The Intergraf Currency + Identity Conference and Exhibition took place from 18-20 October in Bilbao, Spain. The Bilbao Exhibition Centre hosted this year’s 940-plus participants from the two branches of the industry, of which more than 170 were from central banks, government and law enforcement, along with 107 exhibitors.

The Banknote Conference, held every two years, is an independent, neutral forum for industry leaders to meet and discuss innovations, efficiencies, best practices, and new technologies and solutions that benefit their operations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) roared into the public consciousness in 2023. Its widespread use and, more importantly, its potential have become visible to all, not just the small specialist user community that has been working on it for years. Clearly, AI is of great interest to central banks from the policy makers through the cash issue department.

This year the Americas Cash Cycle and Payments Seminar is taking place 27-30 November at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida.

The organisers of the High Security Printing™ (HSP) conferences, Reconnaissance International, have announced the programme for the upcoming HSP Asia event, which – after a four year absence due to COVID – finally takes place in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 4-6 December 2023.

Post COVID-19, following Manila in 2022, the Asia Cash Cycle Seminar (ICCOS) headed to Bangkok this year, organised by Currency Research with the Bank of Thailand as co-host.