Authentication is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicating a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of verifying that identity. It might involve validating personal identity documents, verifying the authenticity of a website with a digital certificate, determining the age of an artifact by carbon dating, or ensuring that a product or document is not counterfeit.
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland. Established in 1853, EPFL has placed itself as a world class university specializing in engineering and natural sciences.
A QR code is a type of two-dimensional matrix barcode, invented in 1994, by Japanese company Denso Wave for labelling automobile parts. A barcode is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to the labelled item. In practice, QR codes contain data for a locator, an identifier, and a website visitor tracking. To efficiently store data, QR codes use four standardized modes of encoding (i) numeric, (ii) alphanumeric, (iii) byte or binary, and (iv) kanji.
The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime is a 2000 United Nations-sponsored multilateral treaty against transnational organized crime.
Transnational organized crime (TOC) is organized crime coordinated across national borders, involving groups or markets of individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures. In order to achieve their goals, these criminal groups use systematic violence and corruption. Common transnational organized crimes include conveying drugs, conveying arms, trafficking for sex, toxic waste disposal, materials theft and poaching.
Counterfeit consumer goods are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on either the trademark, patent or copyright of the brand owner by passing off its goods as made by the brand owner. Counterfeit products made up 5 to 7% of world trade in 2013, and in 2014 cost an estimated 2.5 million jobs worldwide, with up to 750,000 jobs lost in the U.S. About 5% of goods imported into the European Union in 2013 were fakes, according to the OECD.
Alain Wegmann was a Swiss computer scientist, professor of Systemic Modeling at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Information Technology and Services consultant, known for the development of the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Methodology (SEAM).
Brand protection is the process and set of actions that a right holder undertakes to prevent third parties from using its intellectual property without permission, as this may cause loss of revenue and, usually more importantly, destroys brand equity, reputation and trust. Brand protection seeks primarily to ensure that trademarks, patents, and copyrights are respected, though other intellectual property rights such as industrial design rights or trade dress can be involved. Counterfeiting is the umbrella term to designate infringements to intellectual property, with the exception of the term piracy which is sometimes (colloquially) used to refer to copyright infringement.
The Faraday Medal is awarded by the Electrochemistry Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Since 1977, it honours distinguished mid-career electrochemists working outside of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for their research advancements.
The Lausanne campus or Dorigny university campus is a large area in Switzerland where the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and several other institutions are located. It is in Dorigny, towards the west of Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The site is about 2.2 kilometres wide and 31,000 people study and work there.
EuroTech Universities Alliance is an alliance of Technical University of Denmark, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, École polytechnique, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Technical University of Munich. Founded in 2011, it aims to promote collaboration in research, education and innovation between European universities of science and technology. Today, the alliance focuses on five fields: artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, health and bioengineering, sustainability, and entrepreneurship and innovation. The current president of the alliance is Éric Labaye.
André Calantzopoulos is a Greek businessman. He is executive chairman of tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI), having previously served as CEO. He worked as a design engineer in the automotive industry before joining PMI at 28 years old.
Codentify is the name of a product serialization system developed and patented back in 2005 by Philip Morris International (PMI) for tobacco product authenticity, production volume verification and supply chain control. In the production process, each cigarette package is marked with a unique visible code, that allows authenticating the code against a central server.
Mattia Binotto is a Swiss-born Italian engineer and the former team principal of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One. He was appointed to the role on 7 January 2019, replacing Maurizio Arrivabene. His parents are Italian.
Erna Hamburger was a Swiss engineer and professor. In 1957, she became professor of electrometry at the University of Lausanne. She was the first woman in the history of Switzerland to be named a professor at a STEM university.
A copy detection pattern (CDP) or graphical code is a small random or pseudo-random digital image which is printed on documents, labels or products for counterfeit detection. Authentication is made by scanning the printed CDP using an image scanner or mobile phone camera. It is possible to store additional product-specific data into the CDP that will be decoded during the scanning process. A CDP can also be inserted into a 2D barcode to facilitate smartphone authentication and to connect with traceability data.
Scantrust is a Swiss company that provides an Internet of things platform for identifying products on the internet.
Illicit trade is the production or distribution of a good or service that is considered illegal by a legislature. It includes trade that is strictly illegal in different jurisdictions, as well as trade that is illegal in some jurisdictions but legal in others.
Mary Ann Mansigh Karlsen is a computer programmer who was active in the 1950s in the use of scientific computers.
Asclepios is a program of space analogue missions designed by students for students, under the mentorship of trained professionals. It seeks to simulate short-term space missions on another celestial body, such as the Moon or Mars, thus paving the way to the future space exploration of the solar system.
