IBDA to Close its Doors

The International Banknote Designers Association (IBDA) is to be wound up, 12 years after the organisation was founded, at the first International Banknote Designers Conference (IBDC) in Geneva in 2010. The sixth IBDC, due to take place this October in Dubrovnik, has been cancelled.

The IBDA numbers eight partner members, from among the leading industry suppliers, and over 300 individual members, drawn from commercial and state printers and central banks, as well as independent designers. Its principal aim was to support better communication and diffusion of ideas and information between banknote designers and other actors in the banknote community.

However, according to Mark Stevenson, who has led the IBDA since its inception, it has struggled recently to ensure ongoing exchange and communication between members and partners.

‘Travel restrictions and other COVID-related phenomena prevented us from physically connecting via our usual seminars and conference, and today we find ourselves in an unviable position’ he said. And as a result, ‘the IBDA does not have the sufficient resources or finance to continue its activities in 2023’.

The not-for-profit association was formed to facilitate knowledge sharing and insights via a range of education and information exchange activities. Since 2010, it has delivered over 35 international events and summits and issued over 40 publications on the subject of banknote design.

Some of the themes explored and pursued over the years have included the importance of intaglio and maintaining the age-old skill for future generations, machine readability and designing for the cash cycle, human perception and user behaviour, innovation and evolution in design technology, the banknote of the future, and designing a sustainable future for cash.

Its initiatives have included the World Banknote Project, with designers from around the world revealing their vision of what the banknote of the future might look like, the World Engravers Project (which produced the world’s first and only intaglio engraving), the ‘East Meets West’ Intaglio Cultural Learning Programme, the Engravers Lifetime Education Program, supported by the Intaglio Engraving Academy (located in Urbino in Italy and which welcomed students from 12 different countries during its time) and, most recently, HUMANIA – the global currency initiative to support post-COVID recovery through the medium of banknote design.

Whilst the IBDA is being wound down, there are discussions about creating a forum or other platform as a means of keeping the design community together. This could include the continuation of the International Banknote Designers Conference.

In the meantime, the IBDA virtual General Assembly will take place on 27 October, where more detail will be provided on the factors leading to the decision to close the IBDA, and any plans for the future.