As part of its corporate venture capital activities, Covestro invests in the French technical start-up company Crime Science Technology (C.S.T). With this investment, Covestro strengthens its business with special films for ID documents and gets access to the Optical Variable Material (O.V.M®) technology for polycarbonates and polyurethanes. This innovative technology developed by C.S.T enables new security features and makes identification documents even more forgery-proof than before. C.S.T was founded in 2010 and has an administrative and a laboratory location in France. The transaction is one of the first projects of Covestro´s strategy to invest in start-ups. It was agreed not to disclose the amount of the investment."With this step, we are strengthening our position as an innovation driver in special films for ID documents," says Dr. Thorsten Dreier, Global Head of the Specialty Films business at Covestro. "With the new partnership and the introduction of Makrofol® ID O.V.M® films we are creating a new degree of security." Covestro has many years of experience in the development and production of films for identification documents .Cosimo Prete, President and founder of C.S.T, also welcomes the new strategic cooperation: "We value Covestro as a very innovative partner in the development of film solutions for the production of identification documents and look forward to working together in this growing market."Security features for easy control To prevent document attacks through forgery, manipulation and identity theft, ID documents such as ID Cards or passports are equipped with various security features. In routine ID checks, visible and haptic level 1 elements in particular are becoming increasingly important, as they can be checked quickly and without additional technical equipment.Covestro and C.S.T have been working together in this field since 2016. Last year, Covestro introduced the transparent Makrofol® ID O.V.M® film to the industry. The O.V.M® material technology creates a completely new color change effect, which is a very strong level 1 security feature. The new film can be integrated into existing card manufacturing processes without further modifications.