report
9.13.6 Application and perspectives

The expert engagement process identified trend for anti-counterfeiting as:

• Main drivers for research and development are technological, economic gains, social impact and regional policy Technological drivers are principally identified as cost, performance, efficiency and absence of a solution.

• Brand Theft is considered important driver for R&D in anti-counterfeiting.

• Main barriers for research and development were identified as lack of supporting governmental policies, access to equipment and infrastructure as well as inadequate technology transfer.

• Failure to integrate during field trials was considered a development barrier. Limited supporting policies were also considered as a barrier for technology segment.

• The technological segment represents an economic implication for society with a justice related dimension to it as well.

• The attractive application research area was ‘Intelligent materials and packaging'. Automated packaging for product identification along with back tracing combined with sensory features was suggested.

• The most important functionalities were identified as ‘accuracy in identification', ‘not easily reproducible feature', ‘multifunctionality of identification tag', ‘portability of identification unit', ‘uniqueness', ‘ease of integration' and ‘long operating life'

• The holographic features for anti-counterfeiting applications are currently on the market.

• Laser Surface Authentication and Nanocluster based identification is expected to be in the market in the next 5 years. Both the technology solutions were considered attractive growth markets.

• Nanobarcodes, SERS tags and nanostructured security features are expected to appear on the market in the next 10 years. Nanostructured security features were considered to be very attractive higher growth markets in relation to Nanobarcodes and SERS tags.

• Other qualitative information suggested that there should be ‘greater emphasis on creating company awareness of product security features', ‘improving international laws to dealing with fraud' and ‘more emphasis on technological development than basic research for authentication'.

• Based on the application, the potential toxicity of nanomaterials should be considered. Cadmium compounds were mentioned to one of the most severely regulated materials.