Enabling simple and highly secure authentication from printed polymer materials

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Product authentication is of crucial importance in protecting consumers and manufacturers from the economic, health and social costs of counterfeit and falsified products. COVID-19 has seen increasing reports of criminals seeking to exploit PPE supplies and pharmaceuticals,\* coupled with the dramatically increasing shift towards online retail and less secure supply chains.Optomel is creating an innovative new approach to authentication in which mass produced printed features are activated by the LED flash on smartphones, creating a very simple but striking security image that is otherwise hidden. Over 80% of the UK population have a smartphone (ofcom.org.uk). This project will address the need for simple yet highly secure product authentication features that can be verified by the public.Existing solutions, especially at the overt level - designed for public authentication - are becoming increasingly compromised and are able to be readily simulated enough to deceive the layperson.This project will support creation of minimum viable product demonstrators (MVP), compatible with industry standard processing. It will showcase the technology, allowing Optomel to engage with customers, partners, and investors to help further commercialise the innovation.Optomel is an SME (founded 2018) with dedicated lab and office facilities on the University of Southampton Science Park, with significant prior experience of the authentication technology market.(\*Source: EU Commission, European Anti-Fraud Office Press Release 13th May 2020.)