White Nights for HSP EMEA

High Security Printing EMEA took place 13-15 June in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital on the Baltic Sea.

Estonia is famed for its ‘white nights’ in mid-summer, when the sun hardly sets, and for the fact that its citizens are amongst the most tech-savvy in Europe, being one of the top-ranking countries in the world on the UN’s E-Government Development Index.

The event was host to over 200 delegates from more than 108 organisations and 35 countries.

The pre-conference ID seminar (13 June) looked at the increasing requirements for self-service, quick and reliable document authentication remotely and at scale now that fraudsters have access to increasingly excellent technology, leaked data and a vast library of faces from social media.

The conference itself was formally opened by Mr Raivo Küüt, Undersecretary for Population Facts and Civil Society from the Ministry of the Interior, Estonia. Mr Küüt made himself popular with the audience by saying that ID and other government issued documents were ‘more than just pieces of paper’ and by setting the ID industry a target to ensure that everyone in the world should have just one verifiable identity.

The conference programme (14–15 June) was split into two parallel tracks – one focusing on currency and the other on travel and identity documents. A total of 52 presentations were delivered over the two days, with the ID-dedicated sessions covering regional developments in passports and national eID, design through to delivery, authentication and certification, substrates and security features, examination and verification, and digital print.

Two highlights of the event included the conference dinner at the stunning Tallinn Seaplane Harbour, and the HSP Football Match which, unusually (and thankfully), took place without any injuries.

HSP EMEA 2023 event will be held in Abu Dhabi, from 7-9 March 2023, and will include a visit (for central banks and issuing authorities) to the Oumolat Security Printing Printworks.

hsp-emea.com