Holography awards showcase leading-edge technology
HONG KONG, CHINA—Sponsored by industry newsletter Holography News (www.holographynews.info), this year’s 15th International Hologram Manufacturers Association’s (IHMA; www.ihma.org) Excellence in Holography Awards 2007 demonstrated that holography maintains the ability to combine cutting-edge technology with quality design and graphics to deliver successful projects to customers.
Attended by delegates from hologram suppliers, manufacturers, and users from around the world, the 2007 awards were presented at the annual holography industry conference Holo-pack·Holo-print in Hong Kong on November 15th. The annual Excellence in Holography Awards recognize outstanding industry achievement, going to those companies and organizations that have introduced the most innovative or commercially viable hologram product or technique over the past year.
The best New Holographic Product award went to Bayer Innovation GmbH for its PhenoStor holographic card data storage system that records optically encrypted data holographically on a photopolymer developed by the company. Bayer has demonstrated various applications for the process, including a personnel access system and memory card.
In the U.K., Hampshire-based Eskay Holographics and Manchester’s Henderson Engineering scooped the award for Best New Holographic Technique. The award was given for its HSK 310H embossing machine—an advanced process for embossing holographic images on to narrow-web films used for packaging and security applications, among others.
Munich-based banknote and security paper manufacturer Papierfabrik Louisenthal picked up the Authentication/
Security award for its new portfolio of holographic and related optically variable devices for banknotes for effective anti-counterfeiting holographic solutions.
The ceremony was rounded off with the presentation of the coveted Brian Monaghan Award for Business Innovation, given in memory of the late Brian Monaghan, an innovative and imaginative hologram entrepreneur, who died in 2002. This year’s prize went to Hologram Industries’ founder and president Hugues Souparis for his personal contribution to and influence on the development of the hologram industry. For over 20 years, he has been at the forefront of the industrial and sales applications of holographic images, notably their use in optical security solutions. Hologram Industries designed the holographic patch used on the higher-value Euro banknotes and produces the Meditag hologram applied to all medicines and pharmaceuticals supplied in Malaysia. The company has won more Excellence in Holography Awards than any other single company—an indication of its technical and design skills.