Annual AI Awards honours Irish Artificial Intelligence excellence in 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.

Also Read: Enterprise Behavioral Pairing: How AI in the Call Center Elevates the Customer Experience and Boosts Revenue

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.”

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