As a new article by Anne Manning explains, an HP Fellow from Colorado State University, Steve Simske, and other researchers have been awarded a grant to further explore how to disrupt illicit supply chains.
Simske has already done some work in this vein, having “previously developed a scanning technology that can quickly identify falsified products”.
Now Simske and collaborators from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation for “early-stage scientific research for studying and dismantling illicit supply networks.”
The grant consists of $300,000 (€256,523) over two years.
Simske, described as a “long-time HP Fellow and research director at HP Labs”, joined the Colorado State University at the beginning of 2018, serving as a professor of mechanical engineering and systems engineering.
“Ultimately, what we are trying to do is deconvolute what’s being done through licit actions, to identify illicit purposes,” Simske said. “It’s a hard problem to solve, and we will address it through technology.”
One of the primary aims of Simske’s research will be to “improve a counterfeit image-detection technology he pioneered at HP” between 2008 and 2012. The professor and his colleagues “plan to leverage this existing work into additional customisation and analytic capabilities”, with the ultimate goal being to “steer an illicit network into a situation in which they must reveal themselves.”
