Werner Reinhart

Induction Year: 2017

Werner Reinhart was an innovative business person and technology leader who led the development of foil based holographic security features for use in banknotes. Werner was a driver behind the development of optical holographic technology as well as the infrastructure to support its application. He worked with currency industry leaders to assure that holographic foil became one of the most used features in paper banknotes and set the groundwork for the use of similar technology in polymer substrate. Werner is credited with being the driving force behind the development of machines for foil application in a continuous process in the paper mill industry.

He joined Kurz in 1984, working as a chemist on coatings and adhesives before moving into the development of security products. There he found his vocation and quickly advanced and became the company’s, and the document industries, champion of security holograms. The high volumes of banknotes and the rapid transfer of holograms to paper demanded a completely different approach to foil production from that used for holograms on credit cards. Werner’s leading role in coordinating the technical developments in the production and application of soft-embossed holographic foil and success in convincing the banknote industry of the value of security holograms as a premier anti-counterfeiting technology was an epic task and achievement.  Today, foil based solutions, notably the KINEGRAM, are indispensable features for new banknote series worldwide.

Werner’s technical expertise has been recognized in nearly 300 patents worldwide, including 15 American and 13 European patents and patent applications during the course of three decades.

Werner is remembered as a person with a great sense of humour, charisma, and entrepreneurial spirit.