Among the customary technical presentations and product launches at conferences, the one given by Komori at the recent Global Currency Forum on the topic of the metaverse was very much ‘out of the box’. Here Steve Craig of Komori explains what the metaverse is, and how Komori is looking at harnessing it for banknote production.

KURZ has been a pioneer in the use of diffractive optical anti-counterfeit features on banknotes since its earliest developments on the Australian dollar and the Austrian shilling. Its acquisition of OVD Kinegram (OVDK) in 1999 added proprietary optical features to its existing strengths in materials technology.

Canadian security services provider GardaWorld, the world’s largest privately owned provider of security, cash and risk management service, has announced the launch of Sesami, a new cash ecosystem performance and technology company that will operate independently of its parent.

According to CCL Secure, the SPARTAN banknote has been engineered specifically for the note/coin boundary and is the result of researchers creating not only a brand new kind of polymer but also reimagining the banknote production process.

Banknote durability is an ongoing topic of interest for central banks. More durable banknotes have a reduced impact on the environment and save the central bank money because they need replacing less often.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, a pioneer in computer design software with the launch of its ONE Security system in 2001, has announced the arrival of version 2.1 with a raft of new features and capabilities.

The team behind the multi-award winning cash cycle analytics platform DLR Analytics™ have announced a major upgrade to the existing software.

The emphasis on the recent round of IACA’s Excellence in Currency Awards, which were presented in October, was on innovations in response to the pandemic that will have lasting value. One such innovation was from KURZ in the form of its ‘Digital Design and Origination Approval Process’.

Infrared (IR) is part of the electromagnetic spectrum that lies immediately beyond red light and is therefore invisible to the naked eye. Because of this, IR inks are widely used in the banknote industry to create covert features that are both highly secure and machine readable, particularly by high speed systems.

The digital world has been with us for over 20 years, and it has brought significant benefits, usually related to convenience, choice and cost. Despite that, there are many examples of physical products that are recovering lost ground and increasing sales.