Dr. Steffen Noehte worked as assistant professor at the University of Mannheim between 1992 and 1998. He and his colleague Matthias Gerspach – both were physicists – discovered 1998 that tesafilm® can be used as a data storage medium. Subsequently, the tesa scribos GmbH was created in December 2001 by six co-workers from the chair of informatics at the University of Mannheim. The research team owned 25%, the tesa SE 75%. Tesa bought the last 25% in 2007. Thanks to the complete takeover, the team could develop their idea further, co-founder Dr Christoph Dietrich stated. Even though they don´t own shares in the company anymore, the founders still believe in their idea, as five of them are still working for the company.
Tesa scribos has been internationally successful for more than ten years with this simple but ingenious idea: save data on adhesive strips. The subsidiary of tesa AG, produces and distributes high-security security labels manufactured at a high-resolution and worldwide unique labelling process at fifty international locations. Each label contains different security features. Some of these features are immediately visible: for example, the individually generated serial number. Other features are hidden and can be read with simple tools. In brief, Tesa scribos develops highly secure ID cards for their products. Those can be retrieved by scanning a QR code via a smartphone.
Tesa scribos have become the main solution supplier on the market for protection against counterfeit, grey market, guarantee fraud, as well as risk prevention against falsification. The success of the company is displayed by some of their clients’ big names, like Bosch, Continental, or the French wine producer Castel Frères. About 100 employees are working all around the globe for the company who used to be a Start Up at the University of Mannheim.
