Danish Chemist Creates Unbreakable Anti-Counterfeit Tech

Every year, counterfeit goods cost companies 467 billion dollars and put consumers at risk from dangerous fake medicines, cosmetics, and electronics. Now a Danish chemist has created a solution that could end counterfeiting forever.

Thomas Just Sørensen from the University of Copenhagen developed O-KEY, a technology that works like nature's own security system. The concept is beautifully simple: imagine throwing sand onto glass and watching it land in a pattern no one could ever recreate.

The O-KEY mark measures just one millimeter square and gets sprayed onto products or packaging using transparent ink. Inside that tiny space, microparticles land in a completely random pattern that's mathematically impossible to copy.

Any smartphone can scan the mark, instantly verifying whether a product is authentic. The verification carries legal weight, giving companies and consumers real protection against fakes.

Royal Copenhagen porcelain became one of the first brands worldwide to adopt the technology. The company now tracks every product from factory to customer with certainty.

"O-KEY has set new standards for how we protect our brand," says Allan Schefte, SVP at Fiskars Denmark. The company gained immediate transparency across its entire distribution chain, with legally recognized proof protecting every item.

The breakthrough emerged from a 2016 conference conversation about physically unclonable functions. Sørensen spent two years developing the technology, publishing his findings in Science Advances in 2018.

His research transformed into PUFIN-ID, now a 16-person company in Copenhagen. The team built custom labeling machines, IT infrastructure, and an AI system that tracks every digital fingerprint created.

Today anyone can download the O-KEY app from the AppStore. What started as advanced laboratory science became a mass-produced product protecting Danish design classics, international luxury brands, and critical infrastructure components.

The Ripple Effect

Beyond saving companies money, this technology protects real people. Counterfeit medicines can sicken patients who think they're taking genuine treatments. Fake car parts can cause deadly accidents. Fraudulent electronics have sparked house fires.

The Innovation Fund and private investors supported the technology's journey from university research to market solution. Kay Bojesen figures and international security products now carry the marks alongside Royal Copenhagen porcelain.

The technology proves how university research can reach far beyond academic journals into everyday consumer protection. A handful of sand on glass inspired a solution that could reshape global commerce and keep families safer from dangerous counterfeits.