London, 11 Sep 2011
De La Rue plc, the world’s largest integrated commercial banknote printer that also offers a range of specialist services and software solutions, and PragmatIC Printing Ltd, the pioneer in imprinted logic circuits, has today announced significant progress in prototyping printed electronic security products.
Codenamed project ‘RAIL’ (Remotely Activated Interactive Labels), the £600,000 development is supported by a grant from UK’s Technology Strategy Board.
De La Rue and PragmatIC have completed prototypes of a range of concepts applicable to security printing markets, following the broad premise of a visual feature (a light or logo) that is triggered by consumer interaction.
No battery is required; power is harvested wirelessly from a standard RFID (radio frequency identification) or NFC (near field communications) reader. Such readers are quickly becoming widespread, for example in contactless retail payment systems or integrated into latest generation mobile phones.
This means that labels can be extremely flexible and thin (around 50 microns), and also compatible with conventional hot lamination processes.
Philip Cooper, Head of Ideas at De La Rue commented; “PragmatIC’s unique imprint-based approach to printed electronics is not only able to deliver potentially exciting new security features, but is also a natural complement to other security printing technologies such as holographic embossing.”
Scott White, Chief Executive Officer, PragmatIC printing added; “Working closely with De La Rue has allowed us to focus on the key functional and form factor requirements for the security printing market. We look forward to helping drive these concepts towards commercial reality.”
For further information, please contact:
Rob Hutchison, Group Director of Marketing Communications
robert.hutchison@uk.delarue.com
+44 (0)1256 605018
