Optical & Digital Document Security - Where Physical Meets Digital

The Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference and exhibition, held in Prague, Czech Republic from 17-19 April 2023, attracted over 170 delegates from 94 global organisations, along with 24 representatives from government and research academia.

This was the second ODDS – the first of which, held last year, combined the long-established Optical Document Security conference (a biennial event held for many years in San Francisco as the platform for new security technologies and features for physical documents) and Digital Document Security, which took the same approach for digital and virtual security.

As such, it continued with its global commitment to provide a platform for showcasing developments that integrate optical and digital science into solutions for securing identities and documents, with a broad cross-section of technical papers relevant to both currency and personal identity.

The conference was preceded by an afternoon workshop on ‘Smartphones in the New ODDS World: Effective and/or Convenient?’ conducted by Dr Alan Hodgson, an expert in material science and fellow of the SPRITE+ university collaboration.

Dr Hodgson shared with the audience a broad landscape of smartphone technologies, lifecycles, challenges, and opportunities in the digitisation era, from a political, economic, social, and technical standpoint. Key questions debated were: are we becoming over-reliant on smartphones? And do convenience and security make good bedfellows?

The workshop ended with case studies on smartphones used as substitutes for cash, provers of identity, and readers of codes.

The conference opened on 18 April with a keynote address from Ian Lancaster, Conference Chairman, who thanked the conference committee and delegates for their commitment to building the new ODDS world, where physical links with digital.

As an example of the physical/digital link, Duncan Reid of Smithers (and author of its new report The Future of Physical vs. Digital Currency: Banknotes in a Digital World to 2032), gave a demonstration of several apps developed by banknote providers and brand owners for public education, showing key security and identification features. These included the Orell Füsslli Discovery app, the Dutch National Bank’s ‘Check Your Banknote’ app, and Koenig & Bauer’s ValiCash™ app (for authenticating intaglio print), and Public Smill™ app for storing digital content on banknotes.

Orell Füssli Discovery app.

 

Session 2 of the conference, which focused on new approaches to securing and designing documents, heard from UnderCurrency of Mexico on its PerceptNote™ software for introducing rapid iteration testing to banknote design. PerceptNote simulates payment transaction conditions with new banknote designs, taking into account human capabilities to perceive colour, denomination, and security features. This gives the designer a first insight into the ability of a new banknote design to accomplish its function and allows it to be compared to other banknotes.

In a similar vein was the presentation from the Bank of Spain on Neurocash. Developed by the Bank together with the LENI Institute, the technology uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to measure how humans behave when interacting with a banknote, in order to gain insights into visual interest, tactile perception, attention to certain areas, emotions, motivation, mental load and level of stimulation. The Bank is now commercialising the technology by making it available to other central banks.

Koenig & Bauer presented its new authentication solution based on non-artificial microstructures. According to the company, next-level authentication solutions must address high security, sustainability, the ability to work offline and the ability to act fast. In addition, given that the micro-characteristics of documents offer myriad high-security possibilities, in Koenig & Bauer’s view that there is no need to integrate additional features such as chemical taggants and ‘phygital’ security.

There were interesting papers from IQ Structures on applications in DOVID design and a fresh approach by a young researcher from Chromatir who is developing structural colour technology for security, decorative and optical sensing applications.

Distinkt showcased its near infrared-induced colour/fluorescent changing inks (see CN March 2023) and OVD Kinegram shared the company’s wide range of security features based on structural colours and the methods used to prepare these features. The company also presented the Rotation-Induced Colour Shift (RICS) feature, based on linear gratings, which offers colour movement upon rotation of a secure document or by tilting it from left to right.

Rotation-Induced Colour Shift (© OVD Kinegram).

The BIG debate – is there a future for physical security documents?

Ian Lancaster led the ‘big debate’ of the conference, with panellists from Institute Industrial IT, Secure Identity Alliance, Document Security Alliance, and Bundesdruckerei, addressing questions such as: 

• Digital is coming and we should embrace it. But what about the future of physical security? Are we driving enough innovation to digital?

• Do convenience and security make good bedfellows?

• Are our documents fit for security features?

• What about our privacy? Does relying too much on digital security pose a threat to personal privacy?

It was agreed that these issues are actually much bigger than we think, and require our entire community to get behind them to amplify debate, and create awareness among the younger generation about the need to create a balance between physical and digital.

There are pros and cons with both physical and digital solutions and we need to address these in combination to create a secure and safe world. New generation security features must be clever and convenient. There is no future for digital alone, mobile is not the answer for everything, and we need human-machine relationships with space for both physical and digital technologies.

The next ODDS will take place in Lisbon, Portugal in April 2024.

https://opticaldigitalsecurity.com/