IRIS Corporation Bhd (IRIS) will be partnering with US authentication and digital security company TruTag Technologies to look into the potential for smartcard and secure label applications globally.

TruTag has developed an advanced Optical Memory (iOM) device: a digital “cookie” that enables the digitization of the analog world. TruTag’s iOM devices are dust-sized particles that can be embedded into the very fabric of a product without the need for packaging or labels. They are edible and covert, and can digitize a plethora of items for product intelligence, for effectively counteracting the $1 trillion global problem of counterfeit and diverted products.

IRIS acting CEO Choong Choo Hock says the two parties would look at possible ways to work together to co-develop and offer a portfolio of smartcard and secure label products to customers in both the government and private sectors around the world. “As the pioneer of ePassport and multi-application eID technology, IRIS has been in trusted ID for over 20 years, with clients in over 30 countries, including the US, Canada, Italy, Norway and India. TruTag, on the other hand, is a leading US authentication company and the only company in the world with covert and ingestible (edible) optical memory microtags that can be applied to both consumables (pharmaceuticals, food and beverage) and secure documents. We are looking to provide multiple layers of security to secure labels and documents, including, but not limited to, biometric smartcards and mission-critical labels such as airline baggage labels.”

“We are delighted to team up with IRIS Corporation as a pioneer and world leader in trusted Identification,” says Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO of TruTag Technologies. “The collaborative venture will look to providing secure documents and labels for various applications across different countries and industries, and we look forward to working together with IRIS to provide leading-edge authentication and data intelligence solutions to our customers with high levels of security needs.”

Federal Land Development Authority (“FELDA”), which holds a 21.33% stake in IRIS through Felda Investment Corp. Sdn. Bhd. (“FIC”), is positive on the partnership between the two companies. Felda chariman Tan Sri Sharir Samad says the proposal will be discussed by the boards of both FELDA and FIC to map out the potential markets and sectors to target. “The expansion of IRIS’ product portfolio to include new, industry-defining technologies is an important element of the corporate restructuring currently in process in IRIS, as it puts IRIS a few generations ahead of its peers in the secure and trusted ID business,” says Tan Sri Sharir.

“The combined strengths and product portfolio of both companies will enable us to target practically every aspect of product authentication, including enhancing the safety and traceability of food and medicine, which is an issue of global importance,” explains Hank Wuh, founder and chairman of TruTag Technologies.

This collaboration with TruTag comes just 10 days after IRIS announced a partnership with Norway’s Zwipe, a company that offers biometric contactless payment cards and fingerprint authentication technology.