Enforcing alcohol and tobacco duty payments using tax stamps is a major source of revenue for governments across the world. The process to make the stamps can often be time consuming and limited to printing firms with specialist equipment. But that could be about to change!

Holographic displays project 3D images that appear to float in space, without needing special glasses to view. This makes them useful for applications like education, entertainment, and medicine, but current holographic displays suffer from limitations in viewing angle, image sharpness and depth of field.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji has released a commemorative banknote to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon. The date of issue – the eighth day of the eighth month – is an auspicious one, the number 8 being the luckiest in Chinese culture, symbolising wealth and good fortune.

In the inaugural column of ‘Then and Now’ in June’s edition of Holography News®, which looked at the birth of automotive production model heads-up displays, I dropped in a tantalising snippet from the May 1988 edition of HN that chronicled the beginning of what has since become the single largest commercial application for holography of all time.

On 13 June 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) provisionally agreed on rules to digitise the Schengen visa procedure.

The International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) has commented on the European Commission’s ‘Report on the Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Third Countries’, saying that it opens opportunities for anti-counterfeiting security devices such as holograms in developing countries.

Back in September 2021, Holography News® reported that printing had started of the newly designed 10,000 yen note which contained an intriguing moving portrait of Eiichi Shibusawa. Now, for the first time, The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has displayed the series of three new banknotes, and all of them contain a holographic portrait.

The service and hospitality industry is struggling to overcome the bottleneck of staff shortages that has severely limited its bounce back from COVID restrictions. One innovative hotel operator, BWH Hotel Group, is planning to use holographic technology to lend a hand.

The International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 28 February. Those present included current Chairman Paul Dunn, newly appointed General Secretary Micaal Sidorov, Board Members Corinne Murcia (SURYS), Mark Deakes (De La Rue) and Ondrej Fedorchak (Optaglio) as well as representatives from Process Color, OpSec Security, Authentication Solutions Providers Association (ASPA), Centro Grafico, Computer Holography Centre, Papierfabrik Louisenthal and ITW Imagenta.

Commercial holograms will maintain robust growth in 2023 despite the global challenges, says Dr Paul Dunn, chair of the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA).