IntelligentMaterialSolutions
Intelligent Material
Intelligent Material Solutions · Princeton, NJ

Materials that connect the physical world with the digital world.

Engineered rare-earth crystals that turn invisible light into information. Already in banknotes, clothing fiber, surgical supplies and defense programs.

Authentication Diagnostics Defense Transportation All applications →
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Our focus

Working in the field,
not just the lab.

Four lines in use or closest to market. Everything else is in Where we could go next, labeled by how far along it is.

In use

Authentication

An invisible identity inside the product: banknotes, fiber, surgical supplies, labels and packaging. Read by a reader or a phone. Includes LightMap™, a random crystal pattern that needs no database.

→ In useField-proven, research use

Lateral-flow diagnostics

Quantitative test strips read by a portable infrared reader, used in research programs with more than 200,000 patients tested. The base for every IMS diagnostics program, from clinics to home and pets.

→ In use

Defense

Covert marking and traceability in government programs since 2009. Biodefense assays for anthrax, ricin and radiation dose are built, and taggants were read at up to 500 m.

→ DemonstratedTested with FHWA

Transportation

Coded road paint and tape that look ordinary to people and carry a message for sensors: a smart cane, bus parking and GPS correction tested with FHWA. U.S. Patent 11,667,799.

→
Find your fitWhat do you need?Start from your problem. Each path shows the problem, our proof, and who to talk to.
Prove a product is realPut an identity inside the product itself, in the ink, plastic, fiber or label, that a printer or a counterfeiter cannot reproduce.Show me →Make a test measurableSwap the reporter in a familiar lateral-flow strip for an engineered crystal, and the line can be measured instead of eyeballed.Show me →Mark and track in the fieldCovert taggants and readers for marking, traceability and detection, built with program offices and primes since 2009.Show me →Guide vehicles and peopleIntelligent Material mixes into ordinary road paint, marking tape and floor coatings. To people they look the same; to a sensor they carry a code.Show me →Measure a gas or chemicalMid-infrared lasers read each molecule by the light it absorbs: parts per billion, ten readings a second, no tags or reagents.Show me →License the technologyIMS is an IP company. You know a market; we bring the material, the science and the patents.Show me →
This is not some future technology

Already in your money, clothing and surgical supplies.

  • 3 billionsurgical-supply units secured with Intelligent Material in 2025Source
  • 200,000+patients tested with IMS crystals in research lateral-flow programsSource
  • 21U.S. patents, all held by IMS, including a composition-of-matter patent on the crystalsSource
  • Since 2009covert marking and traceability in U.S. government programsSource
  • In banknotescurrency, apparel fiber and surgical supplies already carry itSource

Patient numbers are from research use. These are not cleared diagnostic tests.

From a customer

IMS has been a reliable supplier delivering hundreds of kilograms of material per year on time and within specifications to our facilities globally in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. In addition to being a reliable supplier, IMS has been a partner in working with us to design and optimize materials to meet our specific needs. I highly recommend [IMS] as a trusted and reliable supplier.

Senior R&D Scientist, a global fiber manufacturerCustomer since IMS was founded · Source
It goes into what you already make

No new process. Just a new ingredient.

IMS can disperse Intelligent Material® within almost any solvent, polymer fibers and pellets, and within paints, inks and coatings.

LiquidsAlmost any solventSurface chemistry is matched to the liquid, so the crystals stay suspended instead of settling.See the technology → PlasticsPolymer pelletsCompounded into masterbatch, so every molded or extruded part carries the code.See plastics → TextilesPolymer fibersAdded when the fiber is spun, so the identity is inside the fiber, not printed on a tag.See the fiber case → SurfacesPaints, inks and coatingsMixed into the formulations printers and coaters already run, at very low loadings.See inks and coatings →

What this means for a manufacturer: you keep your line, your recipe and your supplier. The crystals arrive ready to mix, and the product leaves with an identity built in.

Tell us what you make
From the President
“When you find a puzzle piece,
there must be a puzzle.”
Howard Bell · President, Intelligent Material Solutions · Read the letter →
More from IMS

Go deeper.

Beyond our four lines: Where we could go next →

The platformProgram the crystal.Composition, structure, time, excitation, magnetics and core/shell: six ways to set the response.See the technology → Under the microscopePublished science.Uniform crystals, published in PNAS and Nature Chemistry, with our lab data and papers.Read the papers → Mid-infrared spectroscopyRead the molecule itself.Gases at parts per billion, with SRI International. Checked against a UK national standard.DemonstratedSee spectroscopy → A new directionHealth at home.Cartridges, one infrared reader and a phone that tracks trends. Not a medical device.In developmentSee diagnostics →
News

Recent milestones.

Sep 10, 2026Patent application published: a pen whose ink answers to lightU.S. application US 2026/0264442 A1. Signatures that glow under ultraviolet and infrared light and can be checked with a phone.
May 21, 2026Patent application published: light-based authenticationU.S. application US 2026/0141408 A1. A phone counts an item's own crystals and checks them against a printed code, with no database.
2026New tuberculosis paper from Leiden University Medical CenterHost-derived protein markers to tell apart stages of tuberculosis in a Brazilian cohort, measured on lateral-flow strips with crystal reporters. Tuberculosis (Edinburgh), 2026.See the TB use case →
20253 billion surgical-supply units securedIntelligent Material, supplied by NovaVera, secured about 3 billion surgical-supply units in 2025, alongside banknotes and fiber.
Oct 29, 2024U.S. Patent 12,130,232 granted: the phone is the readerUsing the infrared laser (VCSEL) many phones already carry to light and read the crystals.
How the business worksIMS is an IP company.IMS and NovaVera invent together. IMS owns the patents and licenses them. NovaVera makes and sells.
  1. IMS + NovaVeraInventNew crystals, readers and methods, developed together.
  2. IMSOwns the IPEvery patent is held by IMS: 21 U.S. patents.
  3. Makes & sellsManufacturing, sales and support, under an exclusive license.
  4. CustomersUse itBrands, mints, hospitals, labs and government.
IMS: research, patents, licensingNovaVera: manufacturing and salesLicensing →

About IMSVisit NovaVera

Intelligent Material Solutions, Inc. · Princeton, New JerseyEnergy-converting materials. Measurable information.