Bundesdruckerei Receives Prestigious ICMA Elan Award

In April, the prestigious Élan Award by the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) went to Bundesdruckerei in recognition of its innovative “Full ID | Governance Card.” This marks the second time that the company took the lead among companies from all over the world working in the ID card industry. In 2008, Bundesdruckerei’s “Matrix” sample card received an award for the “Best ID Card Design.”

“We are both delighted and honoured that this prize has gone to Berlin once again,” Dr. Manfred Paeschke, head of the innovation department, said. “Our Governance Card is an important part of the new Full ID | Governance solution kit which Bundesdruckerei presented at this year’s CeBIT. With this card, we can help companies, public authorities and institutions to achieve even greater protection for personal, property and process data.”

The Governance Card developed by Bundesdruckerei allows biometric and biographical employee data to be stored so that the card can be used for secure access to internal company data and networks and to use electronic signatures.

As the world’s first fully polycarbonate card with allover POLYCORE color printing, the portrait of the card holder is integrated directly using the innovative POLYCORE drop and print method so that the ink and the card body are irreversibly fused. The heart of this multi-functional company ID card is contactless electronics with a flexible silicon chip and a low-cost printed antenna.

In the company’s own application at Bundesdruckerei, staff can use their Governance Cards for access, signature and encryption functions as well as for cash-free payments at snack machines or in the canteen.

“This award for the Full ID | Governance Card production solution marks another milestone on the road to consistently secure identities,” said Paeschke. “Responsible handling and sustainable proteciton of senstive data is one of the most important tasks of tomorrow – a task that we can reliably master with our holistic Full ID | Management approach.”