Secure Documents at Crossroads of Optical and Digital Innovation

Warsaw, Poland, played host to the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) 2025 conference from 15-17 September. The event confirmed once again that ODDS is the world’s leading forum (some would argue only forum) for the science and technology of secure documents.

As is typical for ODDS conferences, the Warsaw programme opened with in-depth seminars that framed the debates to come.

One of these seminars, led by EUROPOL, examined the new threats from counterfeiting, tracing how organised criminal groups exploit weaknesses in document design and distribution. It highlighted the growing links between traditional counterfeiting and cyber-enabled fraud, and the increasingly internationalised enforcement response.

A second seminar, organised by the International Optical Technologies Association (IOTA), looked at previous and next-generation holograms, micro-optics, and colour-shifting technologies. The seminar leader, IOTA Chairman, Dr Mark Deakes, emphasised that while optical effects remain powerful tools for first-line authentication, their survival depends on integration with digital verification.