July 2006 "Smart technology to reduce counterfeiting moves a step closer"

Ecebs Limited, is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with ITI Scotland Ltd to participate in a multi-million pound Research and Development programme that will drive the development of new technology to provide an essential tool in tackling growing international counterfeiting activity. The Participation Agreement signed with the ITI provides the basis whereby companies with complementary skills and capabilities have the opportunity to commercialise elements of the ITI R&D programme in Machine-readable Security Tagging, a technology platform offering an end-to-end solution for brand protection. Ecebs’ advanced technology has been utilised within the R&D programme to provide an integral part of the core platform.

ITI Techmedia research has shown that counterfeiting is a multi-billion dollar global industry with highly destructive effects. The level of counterfeit trade is estimated to have reached US$700 billion worldwide and shows no sign of decline. ITI Techmedia initiated the machine-readable security tagging R&D programme to create a system solution for brand protection and has recruited more than a dozen R&D providers to work on this complex multi-disciplinary programme.

Barry Hochfield, Technical Director, added "Our contribution thus far has been very much on a technology level, on defining and then designing an IT systems architecture that should bring unique business benefits to the market. This has involved close interaction with a core team with complementary skill sets - from physics and chemistry, to computer hardware design to strategic marketing and business process analysis. Now with the Participation Agreement in place, we can concentrate on bringing this exciting solution to a market urgently requiring such products"

Further information can be found at:
www.ititechmedia.com