IHMA appoints first chairman from Asia

The appointment of Kochar, founder and director of India-based Holoflex, comes in the face of continuing demand for authentication and brand protection holograms, which provide effective security devices to counter global threats. The Asia region is seeing a significant amount of hologram industry activity and growth, with China still the major source of counterfeit and pirated consumer goods.

IHMA, a not-for-profit organization that promotes authentication and security holograms worldwide, has also confirmed its board for 2017. Kochar will join current board members XiaoDong Liu, founder and CEO of Henan Province Wellking Technologies in China; and Nuray Yilmaz of Turkey’s MTM Bilisim Arge Yazilim ve Guvenlik Teknolojileri San Ticaret. Rohit Mistry of Holographic Security Marking Systems will remain as IHMA’s Asia regional representative, while Diana Newcombe of Pacific Holographics and Umendra Gupta of Holostik will cover the North America and ASPA regions respectively. The EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will be represented by OpSec Security Group’s Paul Dunn, and Corinne Murcia Giudcelli from Surya. System Intelligence Products’ Goran Milinovic remains as the Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union and CIS representative.

The new board will underpin IHMA’s work to advance the understanding and development of holograms and holographic technology, particularly in the authentication of products and documents, decoration and illustration, displays and display systems, energy and environmental improvements.

‘IHMA is committed more than ever to promote the interests of the hologram industry and to provide valuable support and guidance to its members,’ said Kochar. ‘We see continuing growth this year for the technology, particularly in China and East European markets, so having strong representation in those areas will secure new members and commercial opportunities. Elsewhere, hologram innovation continues to flourish, and it’s encouraging to see new ideas being generated by both established players and companies new to the arena.’

As the industry voice, Kochar will continue to encourage members to secure ISO14298 compliance, the standard requiring security holograms to be registered.

‘This affects all of the current IHMA members and it is also a point of interest for the Chinese, especially when they export products, so promoting the benefits of compliance will be a priority for the association.’

IHMA is made up of 100 of the world's leading hologram companies and includes producers and converters of holograms for banknote security, anti-counterfeiting, brand protection, packaging, graphics and other commercial applications around the world. Members actively cooperate to maintain the highest professional, security and quality standards.