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).

If the industry needed further evidence that holographic technology is in a strong and healthy condition, it need look no further than the range and quality of nominations for the ‘Excellence in Holography 2022 Awards’, which were presented at The Holography Conference Online in December 2022.

A review of this year's headlines.

Dr Alan Hodgson, a consultant in technologies for secure documents, looks at the implications of the evolution of the Metaverse from the perspective of holography and 3D displays.

In this tale of creation, destruction and hope, holographic artist Ed Wesly relates the story of how his installation of holographic tiles for a festival in Chicago was commissioned, installed and then quickly vandalised… and what he’s going to do about it.

There are four items to report in this round up of recent banknote issues using holographic, or other diffractive optically variable, features.

A little known, but curious, use of a hologram’s ability to reconstruct an image as if it were ‘floating’ in space, is for holographic rifle sights. So how does this relatively new type of aiming system work and what are the advantages and disadvantages?