The Nanotech Security Corporation, in conjunction with Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada, is collaborating on unique anti-counterfeiting security features that use nanotechnology. The idea for the technology, Nano-Optic Technology for Enhanced Security (NOtES), stems from how, in nature, insects use colorful markings to identify themselves. The Costa Rican morpho butterfly has microscopic gratings composed of nanostructures, which interact with light to produce its shimmering iridescence. The Nanotech scientists have discovered a way to reproduce these structures reliably. The product is first being applied to banknotes, but other practical applications, such as authenticating legal documents, retail merchandise, concert tickets, stock certificates, visas, passports, and pharmaceuticals, could also use this technology. According to Doug Blakeway, SFU’s Venture Connection’s entrepreneur in residence and CEO of Nanotech, the product is superior to holograms and can’t be duplicated. “You can’t copy or scan it in, you can’t inkjet it on paper, you can’t do any of these things. It’s extremely sophisticated and expensive to make the shims and dyes to produce, but very inexpensive to produce it at the end. Anywhere you can think of where a hologram is being used today, our technology can replace it. It’s more secure than a hologram. You can’t lift it off – we can put it onto metal, plastic, or paper,” he said.