The idea of using flexible and printed electronics to battle counterfeit products is logical, as labels powered by near field communication (NFC) can show if a product is authentic.
 
While the concept is sound, one challenge is to get enough products out into the market so that brand owners and consumers alike see the value first-hand. Another difficulty is placing these tags onto high-value products, where the cost of these tags is not as apparent.
 
Wine is one potential market, and a collaboration between Ferngrove Wine Group, a Chinese-owned Australian wine company, Thin Film Electronics (Thinfilm) and G World Group has the potential to bring these labels to market as early as the fourth quarter of 2015.
 
Thinfilm’s patent-pending NFC OpenSense tags, combined with G World’s SAMSCAN authentication process, are the keys to a “smart wne bottle” that may open the way for greater opportunities in the future. Individual bottles throughout the supply chain will be tagged, which will make sure they are packaged, shipped, stocked and purchased in their original factory-sealed state.
 
The “smart wine bottle” was first featured at Mobile World Congress Shanghai earlier this year. Since then, G World placed a seven-figure order with Thinfilm for the NFC OpenSense tags.
 
The companies cite reports that 50% to 70% of all wine sold in China could be fake, with percentages increasing for higher quality wines. Ferngrove, which is owned by Pegasus, a Chinese food group, exports more than 600,000 bottles to China alone each year. Ferngrove CEO Anthony Wilkes sees the benefits of authenticating the wines for consumers.
 
“As one of Western Australia’s preeminent wineries and a major exporter to China, Ferngrove is dedicated to ensuring the authenticity and quality of our premium wines for our loyal consumers,” Wilkes said.
 
NFC OpenSense tags are flexible, thin tags, each with a unique identifier, which can tell if each individual product is still sealed or open. It then wirelessly communicates this information to an NFC-enabled smartphone or device.
 
The tags offer two key benefits: authentication and the ability to communicate with the end user.
 
“Using NFC OpenSense, Ferngrove Wines and its retailers will be able to check, with the tap of an NFC-enabled smartphone, if a wine bottle’s original factory seal has been broken anywhere along the supply chain,” Jennifer Ernst, chief strategy officer at Thinfilm, said. “This capability will help safeguard against distribution of counterfeit wines and ensure product authenticity.
 
“In addition, because the OpenSense antenna remains active after the product has been opened, Ferngrove will be able to engage customers in new ways by delivering mobile content, such as tasting notes or discounts, via the OpenSense tags,” Ernst added.
 
Ernst said that finding the right partner was certainly a key consideration.
 
“We feel we accomplished that with G World and Ferngrove, particularly given Ferngrove’s Chinese ownership and the pervasiveness of counterfeit wine in China,” Ernst noted. “G World is an industry leader in anti-counterfeiting solutions, with deep relationships in the high-end wine industry. This makes G World the perfect partner to develop the ‘smart wine bottle’ featuring NFC OpenSense.”
 
NFC has been a strong area of interest for Thinfilm. Earlier this year, the company announced a collaboration with Diageo using NFC OpenSense tags, and Ernst said that opportunities are developing. Meanwhile, the project with Ferngrove and G World is moving forward.
 
“We are seeing demand across several verticals including food and beverage, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals,” she noted. “G World, which provides anti-counterfeiting solutions to customers like Ferngrove Wines, has placed an initial seven-figure order for NFC OpenSense tags for trials. Preparations are underway and we anticipate being ready for field trials by the end of Q4.”