During the ITEA Event 2018 that took place in Helsinki on 24 May, as part of the EUREKA Innovation Days, four ITEA projects received the 2018 ITEA Award of Excellence. They presented their impressive outcomes and impact during an interactive panel session moderated by ITEA Vice-chairman Philippe Letellier. All four showed in their different ways that they create a better society.

FUSE-IT
One of the award winners was the project FUSE-IT, led by Airbus CyberSecurity and which addressed the need for sustainable, reliable, user-friendly, efficient, safe and secure Building Management Systems in the context of Smart Critical Sites. From a site management perspective. The project solves the dilemma between efficiency and security in intelligent buildings. At the user level, a smart unified building management interface enables the daily monitoring and control of a building, while a full security management interface enables supervision of both physical and logical security throughout the premises. Imagine, a malicious hacker takes over a hospital’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, changing the temperature in such a way that diseases can easily spread in a building where people are supposed to be cured. Thanks to the FUSE-IT project, this scenario can be avoided and, at the end-user level, both energy and lives can be saved!

IDEA4SWIFT
A second winner, also addressing important and current safety and security issues, was the IDEMIA-led project IDEA4SWIFT whose aim was safe and fast border control management. IDEMIA’s MorphoPass is the answer. The fully integrated security system manages the different stages in a passenger‘s journey through an airport, based on biometric identification. It offers enhanced quality of service for travellers at every step, making the crossing of checkpoints faster and less intrusive at baggage drop, airside access and passport control, as well as at boarding check. Changi Airport, recently voted the world’s best airport for the fifth year in a row, selected IDEMIA to provide biometric identification and authentication services as passengers pass through the airport’s most innovative terminal. The solution based on IDEMIA’s MorphoPass Airport Solution provides automated passenger ID checks using facial recognition at all departure control points. Thanks to the IDEA4SWIFT project, travellers all over the world can travel without delays in a much safer way.

CᶟPO
Another winner was the CᶟPO project led by Barco. This project developed a cloud collaborative and semantic platform for city co-design whereby cities empower, encourage and guide different stakeholders to be co-developers throughout an urban project development process. Key innovations include multi-ontology usage via a single platform that breaks down the vertical silos and enables the faster development of applications, process management for the large-scale participation of multiple stakeholders and visualisation (3D, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality). The project has created new and enhanced participation apps to enhance collaboration between different city stakeholders, giving them a voice in the co-creation of their urban environment.

BENEFIT
Last, but not least, is the award to the Philips-led BENEFIT project. The project aims to support clinicians in selecting the optimum diagnostic and treatment pathway for patients, building on the tools and integrated architecture developed in the MEDIATE project. Together with the project partners, Philips has developed software analysis and imaging methods, navigation tools, and a structured database that gathers patient and treatment information. These will help healthcare professionals before and during minimally invasive interventions by presenting quantified information, personalising models of diseased organs and implantable medical devices, and offering treatment alternatives. Based on this architecture, Philips has introduced new tools with significantly higher accuracy for the treatment of cranial aneurysms and liver tumours.

ITEA would like to congratulate all 2018 ITEA Award of Excellence winners for having an impressive and proven track record of actual business and societal impact, contributing to a better society in their own way.

More information:
FUSE-IT project page / FUSE-IT press release
IDEA4SWIFT project page
CᶟPO project page / CᶟPO press release
BENEFIT project page / BENEFIT news item