HSP Asia 2019 Goes to the Land of the Rising Sun

The 18th High Security Printing Asia conference took place in Yokohama, Japan on 25-27 November 2019.

The is the first time the country has hosted a major international conference for the industry and was clearly a popular choice given the numbers of government delegates, sponsors, speakers and delegates, which set a record. The event brought together 350 delegates from more than 120 organisations to learn from leaders in the industry in a series of seminars, case studies, and technology presentations.

The conference programme was split into two parallel tracks – one focusing on currency and the other on travel and identity documents – allowing attendees to concentrate on the topics and issues that interest them most. A total of 47 presentations was delivered over the two days with six dedicated sessions covering currency and identity documents in Asia-Pacific, regional developments in currency, passports and national eID, developments in security features, production and print as well as issuance and identity management, authentication, cash management, developments in other secure documents, and technology and innovation.

The event opened with four pre-conference seminars on 25 November, providing unique insight into such topics as software to run printworks, threads and diffractive foils for banknotes, digital disruptors and secure documents and remote checking of identity documents.

The opening session of the conference on the following day included presentations from cash usage trends in Japan, the new commemorative Macao note, the Samoan carbon neutral banknote, and biometrics in payments and the government sector in Asia-Pacific.

The following session presented the topics of sustainability in banknote production, perspectives on developing new currency denominations, as well as eID and passport projects in Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong.

Five papers in each parallel session then explored developments in security features. This included advances in optical and foil-based features, printed and windowed features and digital techniques for securing ID documents.

The final day saw presentations on production technologies, destruction of banknotes, developments in substrates, identity authentication and verification and digital and physical worlds. The environment was a recurring theme in the conference. Finally, a dedicated session focusing on innovation and technology formally closed the event.

A specialised exhibition comprising 40 companies was held as part of the event providing delegates with an opportunity to see the latest industry products and solutions.

The event also played host to the prestigious Regional Banknote and Regional ID Document of the Year awards. This year, the Best New Banknote Series award went to the Bank of Papua New Guinea’s for the new Kina series, the best Commemorative Note award went to the National Bank of Cambodia for the 15,000 riel note issued to mark the anniversary of the King of Cambodia, HM Norodom Sihamoni and the Best New Circulating Note award went to the Monetary Authority of Macau for its 20 Patacas banknote issued to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to China. In ID meanwhile, the award for the best new eID card and best new ePassport went to the Hong Kong SAR Immigration Department for Hong Kong’s new smart identity card and new ePassport.

Komori were Platinum sponsors of the conference. In addition to presenting on their ‘Banknoteology’ concept, the company hosted the gala dinner and two large groups of delegates were able to visit their flagship Tsukuba factory outside of Tokyo following the conference. In addition, here was also a tour of the National Printing Bureau Japan at their Tokyo factory.

Yokohama has been the largest HSP Asia event Reconnaissance has held since its inception in 2001. The next event will take place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 7-9 December 2020.