700243Market assessment for commercialisation opportunities of SofMat anti-counterfeit technology into the Pharmaceutical sectorClosedGRD Proof of MarketInnovate UKCounterfeit products are prevalent throughout all aspects of modern life from the seemingly innocent fake clothes through to automotive parts, drugs and other security or safety critical products. All fake products affect the life of all people whether it be by supporting criminal gangs, reduction in tax income for the country as a whole or inferior quality of goods purchased. Knock-on effects are reduced R&D spending by companies, loss of jobs, and poor quality that in the case of safety critical goods could result in loss of life. SofMat has developed a method of marking surfaces that can be used to produce structures on the surface of products that will produce specific visible effects when illuminated. These structures are not visible to the naked eye & can be used on plain or patterned surfaces. The major benefit of this technology is that the method of marking does not contaminate the product allowing the process to be used in pharmaceutical goods. There are a number of technologies that are presently available but none currently that can be used on the packaging, labelling & product. The SofMat technology will allow more robust supply chain checks to be undertaken. This funding will be used to evaluate the potential for using the SofMat technology within the pharmaceutical sector by using experts with vast experience in this sector to make contact with companies and assess their overall view of this product. In addition these contacts will be used to source advice on how the product can be integrated into client production and product protection systems.The outcome of the project will be a full specification for the SofMat product that can be used to develop a solution, to be integrated into pharmaceutical companies production systems. The pharmaceutical sector is traditionally difficult to enter due to the difficulty in gaining approvals that fit within the legislative guidelines so this support is vital to enable the correct level of contacts to be made.