September 20, 2018 – The 2018 Banknote Conference saw the presentation of the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) Excellence in Currency 2018 Technical Awards. Out of 24 nominations, a shortlist of five was drawn up by the IACA Awards Committee for each of the two categories of Best Currency Innovation and Best New Currency Feature or Product. These were then put to a ballot of IACA members.
In the Best New Currency Feature or Product category, the finalists were:
- Reserve Bank of Australia – Transparent IR
- Komori Corporation – the Komori Currency NV32 combination multi-process numbering and varnishing press
- Louisenthal – RollingStar® LEAD
- Banco de México – GOGOL (development and implementation of a digital certification security scheme for Mexican banknotes)
- Oberthur Fiduciaire – AVALON®
The winner was Komori Corporation for the Currency NV32. This is designed to overprint and also number and varnish banknotes on one or both sides of the sheet in one pass through the press at up to 12,000 sheets per hour, utilising the company’s unique double diameter cylinder configuration.
The Modular Equipment Design (MED) concept of the NV32 enables banknote printers to specify a configuration to match their individual specifications, thereby broadening the scope of banknote design and security features. A typical example would be two different varnishes on the front and one varnish on the reverse after numbering. According to Komori, accompanying benefits to the registration capabilities, sheet transfer technology and the variety of possible configurations include reduced floorspace, reduction in labour requirements, floor level operation and short make-ready.
The finalists for the Best Currency Innovation were:
- Crane Currency – MOTION SURFACE™
- The Royal Mint – High Security Feature
- De la Rue – DLR Analytics™
- Cash Processing Solutions – high-resolution colour camera system
- Note Printing Australia – Foil Detector
The winner was Crane Currency, which launched MOTION® SURFACE late last year on the Kyrgyz Republic 2,000 Som commemorative banknote.
The feature is an advance on its MOTION RAPID thread – based on the same micro-lens technology platform, but in a miniaturised form and applied to surface of the note in the form of a stripe as opposed to being integrated as a thread. It is much thinner than its thread counterparts and can be applied, in a similar manner to foil stripes in printworks. A key benefit of this new version is the larger display area, which gives designers more options and flexibility to integrate the micro-optic security features with the print design, thereby enhancing public engagement and interest. And with more pixels per area than the most advanced smartphone, super high definition and stunning visual effects can be created.
More information can be obtained from the IACA website.
For further information on the 2018 winners, please visit the Komori and Crane Currency websites.