Benchmarks of security technologies industry are determined

About 250 participants representing more than 100 companies from 20 countries took part in the 7th International Conference on Security Technologies and Solutions Watermark Conference-2017.

The conference traditionally takes place every two years in different cities of Russia. This time the unofficial capital of the Urals was chosen as its venue.

From 4 to 6 July in Hyatt Regency Yekaterinburg Hotel, hundreds of industry professionals - representatives of national banks, security industry, public services - demonstrated the latest achievements in the field of production of security products, thereby consolidating the status of Watermark Conference as one of the most prestigious international business venues for business communications.

Arkady Trachuk, the General Director of Goznak, in his speech outlined the main directions of development of the security technologies industry and set the business tone for the whole conference. Alexander Yurov, Director of the Cash Circulation Department of the Bank of Russia, shared his professional opinion about the near future of cash money, and Nena Vukicevic, Managing Director - Europe & Africa, Currency Research (USA) came to the conclusion that the future of cash is not a non-cash society, but the one with less cash.

Presentations made at the conference, touched upon all the main branches of the market of security printing.

Michael Poluyanov, Sales Manager of KBA-NotaSys SA (Switzerland), using the example of new Swiss banknotes, demonstrated how the latest innovations in technologies and in process support the secure printing industry in effective creation of highly secure and aesthetically pleasant banknotes.

Richard Boden, Regional Sales Manager of the Japanese company Komori Corporation (Japan) sees the future of banknote printing in a combination of processes and technologies. He presented the work of the Currency NV32 Combination Press, which combines the two processes of numbering and varnishing of banknotes in a single pass. This allows print workers to improve significantly their productivity.

The bright presentation by Alexander Mochalov, the Head of Sector of New Products Development Directorate of Goznak, was dedicated to new conceptual solution for durable banknotes.

Michal Forejt, Director for Operations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, IQ Structures s.r.o. (Czech Republic), in his speech given in Russian language, presented the latest results of development of optical protection elements for polycarbonate documents.

Delegates of Watermark Conference in their presentations described the features of an ideally secure passport. According to Laetitia Maddalena, Document Expert of Federal Office of Police (Switzerland), an integrated approach is needed when creating an ID-document. It is important to consider the color of the passport, its font, substrate and paint, the choice of printing and aesthetics of the document, it is necessary to repeat personal data on the passport several times. The speaker analyzed the effectiveness of the elements of protection of various documents, including a new passport of a Latvian citizen.

One of directions of Goznak’s activity is developing Track&Trace systems for security printed products. Egor Kazartsev, Head of Polygraphic Security Department of the Scientific Research Institute - Branch of Goznak, using the example of excise stamps, demonstrated how this system identifies the authenticity of products: secure excise stamp - software solution - mobile application - verification.

Using a smartphone, you can also check the security feature of the banknote - the conceptual trend, implemented by Jura JSP, was presented by Barna Barabas, Deputy Managing Director of this Austrian company.

In 2017, the Watermark Conference program was enriched with new topics related to the development of the market of security technologies. In the era of global development of blockchain platforms, the security issue becomes the most important. Egor Kotkin, a Business Strategy Consultant of the Russian company Emercoin, gave an introduction to the delegates into digital security anti-counterfeiting facilities on a base of blockchain, with the benefits of this type of security and with successful examples (exclusive clocks on a base of blockchain, anti-theft blockchain - enumeration of vehicles and components, etc.) of using this advanced technology.

Holograms are now considered to be one of the main and most effective public security features and are used on over 280 denominations worldwide. Micaal Sidorov, Deputy Director for Research & Business Development of International Hologram Manufacturers Association (Currency News, United Kingdom), spoke about the latest trends in the industry for the production of holograms for banknotes. The speaker examined the various requirements and challenges faced by hologram developers, he also mentioned competitors of holograms from other optically variable devices, such as color-alternating strands, motion effects (motion technology), and Spark technology from SICPA (Switzerland).

As a matter of fact, Yulia Henchoz, Regional Business Manager of a Swiss Company SICPA SA, paid main attention to optimization of a cash assets turnover, in her presentation.

The speech by Andrey Smirnov, Head of Holographic Laboratory of JSC RPC Krypten, Russia, was devoted to the evolution of hologram security elements used for the security of banknotes, security papers and ID documents. With examples of the world trends (excise stamps, banknotes of Canada, Israel, France, etc.) he revealed the tendency of application of voluminous photopolymer holograms in security printed products as optically variable security features. The speaker briefly described the history of security of products using photopolymers in Russia (from the first excise stamp protected by a hologram on the label of vodka to the volumetric hologram on the letterhead of the VHI policy, etc.) and reviewed the latest developments of RPC “Krypten” in the area of hologram security solutions, including colorful self-adhesive labels.

Vice President for sales in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS of the French company Surys Michel Sochocki in his speech "Evolutions of the DID ™ Technology or how to be one step ahead counterfeiters" offered innovative solutions against counterfeiting and other forms of identity fraud. He talked about emergence of DID ™ technology (the effect of the variable coloring of the scarab beetle and butterfly wing is taken), which is now successfully used in more than 60 countries. So far there have not been recorded any single case in the world of forgery of a document protected by this technology.

Among the companies that took part in the conference there is Landqart AG (Switzerland), a company which produces paper for Swiss francs and passport paper for national Swiss passports since the 1970s. Muriel Schuler, Product Manager of this company, introduced Durasafe technology platform for secure and durable banknotes, in her presentation. This substrate has qualities of both paper (roughness, high tactility) and polymer (increased resistance to mechanical wear). It is also highly utilized with industrial shredders and is a good secondary raw material.

In the final session of Watermark Conference Inna Zakharova, Deputy Head of Forensic Expertise Department of Forensic Science Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and her colleague, Vladimir Shelupakhin, a Senior Expert of the Department of Handwriting Examinations and Technical and Forensic Research of Documents, gave a detailed consideration to the description of falsified security features of counterfeit passports of citizens of the Russian Federation, driving licenses, compulsory motor insurance policies, vehicle passports and methods of their production, they described in details features of counterfeit Russian rubles, euros, U.S. dollars, and the so-called "ATM counterfeits".

Alongside the Watermark Conference-2017 there was an exhibition where the world's and Russian leading companies presented their latest developments in the field of security technologies. Particularly popular was the Goznak booth: any delegate could get his "passport" there - an example of a document with the newest and most promising security features.

The 7th International Conference on Security Technologies and Solutions Watermark Conference-2017 was held with the support of leading companies in the security products industry.

The General Sponsor of the conference was Goznak (Russia). Honorary Sponsors were Komori Corporation (Japan), YAM International CIS (Russia), KBA-NotaSys SA (Switzerland) and SICPA SA (Switzerland). Sponsorship of the conference was provided by Russian companies: JSC RPC Krypten, HoloGrate Ltd, Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga - Security Papers Ltd, OSTCARD.

Media Partners of Watermark Conference were Watermark Magazine, PLUS Journal, InterCrim-Press and Printing House, Currency News, Id & Secure Document News, Watermark Digest.

The organizer of the conference is Water Mark Publishing House.
For more information, please contact the Organizing Committee of the conference:
tel: +7 (812) 495-43-02, e-mail: info@watermark.ru, www.watermark-conference.com