Annual AI Awards honours Irish Artificial Intelligence excellence in 2021

• Third Annual Awards Celebrate Irish AI Innovation across diverse sectors
• The 2021 AI Awards winners are:
  • ACI Worldwide for the best application of AI in a Large Enterprise
  • Terrain AI wins for the Best Application of AI to achieve Social Good
  • INFANT Research Centre wins for a third year for Best Application of AI in an Academic Research Body
  • Webio wins the award for Best Use of AI in a Consumer/Customer Service Application
  • EdgeTier snaps the Best Application of AI in a Start-up award
  • FIRE1 wins the Intelligent Automation – Best Use of RPA & Cognitive award
  • STATSports recognised for Best Use of AI in Sector
  • Eoin Kenny, University College Dublin wins the Best Application of AI in a Student Project award

Dublin 25th November 2021: STATSports, FIRE1, ACI Worldwide, and INFANT Research Centre are amongst the top Irish AI innovators recognised by AI Ireland at the third annual AI Awards ceremony, sponsored by Microsoft.

Held at the Tangent, Trinity’s Idea Workspace, the awards will be broadcast on Thursday 25th November on the AI Awards’ YouTube channel. These Awards, which are part of the not-for-profit organisation AI Ireland, support the growth and development of Data Science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in Ireland. The awards seek to recognise how AI can be ethically used to help solve some of the biggest business, academic, environmental, and health challenges facing our society today.

The 2021 AI Award Winners are:

Best Application of AI in an Academic Research Body

• Winner: INFANT Centre, University College Cork – for its work using Deep Learning in neonatal seizure detection.

Best Application of AI in a Large Enterprise

• ACI Worldwide – who developed Incremental Learning, a new patented technology that transforms fraud prevention within the payment solutions sector.

Best Application of AI in a Student Project

• Eoin Kenny – A PhD student in University College Dublin for his internationally recognised work on predictive AI modelling, explainable AI, and precision agriculture.

Best Use of AI in a Consumer/Customer Service Application

• Webio – was awarded for its Conversational Middleware Service enabling organisations to connect applications, digital assets across different communications platforms (SMS, WhatsApp to Alexa).

Intelligent Automation – Best Use of RPA & Cognitive

• FIRE1 Foundry – has developed a novel implantable sensor solution for remote monitoring of congestive heart failure patients in their home which is enhanced by FIRE1’s continuous training of new predictive models adding diagnostic functionality to its innovative solution.

Best Application of AI in a Start-up

• EdgeTier – An Irish start-up using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve customer service. Its WatchTower AI solution which analyses the contents of emails and chats between customers and agents in real time, detects issues or unusual trends, and alerts contact centre managers ahead of time.

Best Use of AI in Sector

• STATSports is the world-leading provider of wearable player tracking devices and analysis software. Its proprietary APEX pods and Pro Series software leverages data to improve performance with sporting teams around the world and how they have effectively utilised the cloud to provide additional services to their customers.

Best Application of AI to achieve Social Good

• Terrain AI – is a research project led by Maynooth University and is focused on improving the understanding of the impact of human activity on land use and how it relates to climate change, with the aim of improving carbon measurement that will inform future carbon reduction strategies.

Anne Sheehan, General Manager, Microsoft Ireland, commented, “It’s impressive to witness the ever-growing levels of innovation and creativity from Irish companies when applying ethical Artificial Intelligence solutions to solve complex and diverse societal and business challenges. Today’s winners demonstrate the positive impact that AI can bring to different sectors, from finance to health, from security and fraud prevention, to even addressing our most pressing environmental challenges. The AI Awards are key to recognising homegrown talent and entrepreneurship and we are delighted to support the awards again for a third year.”

Mark Kelly, Founder of AI Ireland & Chief Customer Officer at Alldus, commented: “The level of innovation and creativity in the application of AI to address today’s challenges is humbling. All of the finalists have brought their unique take on how AI can be utilised and address a vast array of challenges. Today’s finalists and winners are examples of how world beating AI solutions can be developed ethically and in line with the new EU regulations. The breadth of innovation recognised in these awards demonstrates that Irish organisations can deliver global impact through cutting edge AI research. In our third year, we have seen these awards continue to flourish, however it reinforces the need for Ireland to develop a robust national AI strategy in line with the EU.”

ENDS

Notes to media

Contacts:
Mark Kelly
Founder – AI Ireland
Tel: +353851585905
mark@alldus.com

Cyril Moloney
Teneo
Tel: +353860479462
Email: cyril.moloney@teneo.com

About AI Ireland
AI Ireland is a non-profit community devoted to promoting AI in Ireland. AI Ireland through the use of AI Awards aims to increase public awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) and bring academia and industry together to showcase the excellent work done on the island of Ireland.

Our focus is to support the AI community by recognising the hard work and dedication of those working in the field. AI Ireland is a national, collaborative effort that will highlight and celebrate Ireland’s advances in AI and machine learning, as well as create spaces for discussion on how the future of AI can impact and augment Ireland’s society. It is a very exciting time to be living in Ireland. On the island of Ireland, we are pioneering innovation in the field of AI. Our mission is to position Ireland as a hub for AI investment and bring the country together to upskill and embrace the third digital wave.

About Microsoft Ireland
Microsoft Ireland employs over 2,800 people representing over 75 different nationalities operating out of the company’s campus in Leopardstown, Dublin and our Data Centre in Dublin. From software development, Microsoft International Operations, Finance, HR and Digital Sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Ireland Sales and Marketing, we have an ambition to help everyone, through the power of technology, to achieve more.

Source: RealWire