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INNOVATION
Security system based on photo-activity and optical reading technology
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Market Maturity: Exploring
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Market Creation Potential
This innovation was assessed by the JRC’s Market Creation Potential indicator framework as addressing the needs of existing markets and existing customers. Learn more
Women-led innovation
A woman had a leadership role in developing this innovation in at least one of the Key Innovator organisations listed below.
Location of Key Innovators developing this innovation
Key Innovators
UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDG)
This innovation contributes to the following SDG(s)
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 9
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

The UN explains: "Investments in infrastructure – transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology – are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries. It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure."

The EU-funded Research Project
This innovation was developed under the Horizon Europe project KEEPER with an end date of 31/08/2026
  • Read more about this project on CORDIS
Description of Project KEEPER
Nowadays, counterfeit products seriously affect the global economy and can have a negative impact on security, health, and the environment due to the lower quality of their components. The severity of the problem is estimated to reach 2.3T$ in 2022, causing EU companies a loss of 121B€ in sales and more than 671 000 jobs. KEEPER project aims to provide a new technological solution for this challenge. KEEPER is the first system combining a unique identification code with a virtually infinite number of combinations (more than a septillion) to certify the authenticity of the product and an unprecedented level of security, ease of use, and low price. KEEPER is an innovative customizable solution based on two main assets: nano-engineered inks to be applied on documents or product packaging as adhesive tags or directly printed in specific spots (3Tag), and an extremely selective verification technique by means of a dedicated reader (3Check). The specificity of the inks and high-knowledge content make KEEPER technology extremely difficult or almost impossible to be replicated by reverse engineering processes. KEEPER intends to complete the technological development and to validate with industrial partners the impact on massive use cases increasing the TRL of the proposed solution, supported by a sound and implementable commercialization strategy. The first market considered is represented by the identity verification which is worth more than $10B globally and is expected to grow to $20B by 2022 according to research conducted by McKinsey. The strong integration of a technology track and a business track and a multi-actor approach, that will bring together key actors of academia and industry sector, will allow to deliver project-specific objectives and enable alternative directions and options. In the last phase of the project, we will proceed to the establishment of a start-up that will have the future objective of consolidating our presence in the reference market.

Innnovation Radar's analysis of this innovation is based on data collected on 24/03/2025.
The unique id of this innovation in the European Commission's IT systems is: 134202