Artificial intelligence

Robots to protect Hungary’s borders?

National border control strategy reveals that “autonomous swarms of robots” as well as drones can be expected to take part in the protection of Hungary’s southern borders, beginning as early as the end of 2021. Nevertheless, at this point, even the cabinet admitted that the migration crisis for Hungary was over.

According to Népszava, Hungary is taking part in developing so-called “autonomous swarms of robots with the aim of border protection.” The proposed date of when the robots would join the work to protect the country’s borders is the end of 2021. 

We know from the police’s website that the technical development of the robots has been in progress since 2017, with the support of the EU Horizon 2020 fund. Numerous EU countries and safety organisations are a part of the project nicknamed “Roborder.”

For instance, in Hungary, the Hungarian National Police Headquarters (ORFK) offered HUF 83.7 million (EUR 253,360) of support to the project.

Most of the information about how the Roborder system would work is classified. So far, we know that the system will be made up of moving robotic units, such as small vehicles with wheels, that patrol the area autonomously and make recordings. There will also be surveillance drones. Based on the robots and drones’ observations, officers in charge will decide whether “live backup” is needed.

Even though in Hungary, there has not been too much emphasis put on the ongoing developments of the border protection system, the journal called The Intercept reported about it as early as this May.

According to the IT experts interviewed by the reputable journal, implementing a combination of autonomous robots and drones is dangerous territory, as the money the EU gave was not for military purposes. However, Noel Sharkey, a professor working with artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Sheffield, said that in countries where border protection is a political issue, “it is only a matter of time that these drones will be made capable of stopping people.”

Since there are already drones available that include tasers, pepper spray, and rubber bullet-shooting weapons, countries where there is a threat of mass migration may be tempted to add these to their drones, too, even though the official Roborder project does not include adding weapons to the border protection system. Nevertheless, as Sharkey put it, “The main question is: where is the project heading?”

In some aspects, it makes sense that the government is dedicating so much effort to ensure that robots can protect the borders: there is a serious shortage of police officers. It often happens that soldiers help out at the borders. On the other hand, since by now, even the government agrees that there is no migration crisis at the borders of Hungary, the rush to implement these robots does not seem valid.

While in 2015, at the time of the crisis, there were 456,000 instances where border protection had to interfere, last year, only 5,600 people approached or crossed the Hungarian border.

Unfortunately, ORFK declined to answer questions, including how many of these robots with weapons they would add the work at the border.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/orbanviktor

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Two Hungarian startups in the forefront of European healthcare innovation

EIT Health InnoStars

Two Hungarian start-ups – InSimu Patient, a medical case study educational app that provides learners with simulated patients and Sineko with a platform that improves the efficiency and quality of medical documentation – were selected among 13 other teams to receive mentoring and training support to the value of EUR 25,000 at the third edition of the EIT Health InnoStars Awards competition, a programme for start-ups from Regional Innovation Scheme Programme (RIS) countries with more moderate levels of innovation than other European countries.

Fifteen start-ups from Central, Eastern and Southern European countries that are still developing in terms of healthcare innovation will be given €25 000 in funding, as well as training and mentoring support, as winners of the 2019 EIT Health InnoStars Awards.

In the third year of the InnoStars Awards, the winners were chosen from 116 high-quality contestants based in the 13 Regional Innovation Scheme Programme (RIS) countries – which have more moderate levels of innovation than other European countries.

Selected by a panel of experts, the winning start-ups include five from Portugal, two from Poland, two from Hungary, two from Latvia, one from the Czech Republic, one from Lithuania, one from Italy and one from Romania.

They will receive €25 000 of smart money, individual mentoring for four months and the opportunity to participate in two bootcamps in Europe. EIT Health InnoStars will also organise three validation interviews with potential customers, investors and partners for the award winners. After the four month-programme, ten finalists will be selected to participate in the InnoStars Awards final pitch in November, to compete for the three top prizes: an additional €25 000, €15 000 or €10 000 in funding.

EIT Health InnoStars

Increasing success in RIS countries

“More and more start-ups from the regions covered by the Regional Innovation Scheme apply successfully for prestigious European innovation programmes like InnoStars Awards,” said Mónika Tóth, EIT Health InnoStars RIS Programme Manager. “There is an impressive talent pool in this part of Europe, that has skills and knowledge to create and develop healthcare innovations.”

The InnoStars Awards programme is open for micro and small enterprises, spin-offs and start-ups that already have prototype or a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). All contestants must come from the RIS countries, and based on the increasing number of qualified applicants, the talent pool there is strong. The RIS Hub in Hungary is the Institute of Transdisciplinary Discoveries in Pécs, a space that encourages, mediates and hosts exchanges not only within the academia, but also develop, in a true transdisciplinary manner, effective communication between academia, the business sector and society.

“There are excellent science and talented teams being produced in Eastern Europe, Mediterranean countries and Portugal,” said Dr Nuno Viegas, Business Creation Manager, EIT Health InnoStars.

“InnoStars Awards provides start-ups from these countries with funds to further validate their health solutions, education on how to create a business plan and a chance to talk with investors and connect with expert mentors in other European regions that can share their network and experience.”

List of InnoStars Award winners for 2019

EIT Health InnoStars

B-CULTURE: A Portuguese start-up develops 4D in-vitro human tissue models for drug testing. They offer an efficient and ethical solution for a monitored screening and validation of compounds and implants for the pharma, dental and biomedical industries.

BrachyDOSE: A Lithuanian team of experienced engineers and scientists offer a cancer treatment quality control tool that provides more effective and personalised treatment. Their product is made for oncologists who are seeking precision and the best possible treatment results in radiotherapy.

BRIGHT – Beyond Research and Information Graphics for Health and Technology: An innovative company from Portugal offers the Serious Games for Health project, which helps patients to self-manage their disease and promotes adherence to therapy.

Femyo: A Romanian company was created to cut the at-birth and infant mortality rate in Europe by half. The company seeks to achieve this by building the first digital health management organisation in Europe, to ensure that all their subscribers give the best start in life to their children.

HydrUStent: A Portuguese start-up focused on the development of innovative medical devices based on clinical needs brings together a highly skilled team with different backgrounds, from medicine to biomaterials science and engineering. The company is developing a portable, wireless and less invasive urodynamics testing technology that allows long-term continuous monitoring of intra-urinary pressures. This will positively impact patient’s lives by lessening the discomfort associated with this type of testing, currently performed only in clinical settings.

InoCure: A bionanotechnology company from the Czech Republic delivers solutions for life science and pharmaceutical industry. Its product DifMATRIX is the first active 3D cell culture membrane that enables faster, reliable and ethical preclinical testing.

InSimu Patient: This innovation from Hungary is a medical case study educational app that provides learners with simulated patients. The app helps medical students and physicians gain clinical experience by making decisions on their own to treat simulated, virtual patients. Mimicking all possible aspects of real-life diagnostics, InSimu changes the way young doctors think and learn.

Mosaic Software Srl: An innovative start-up from Italy transforming clinical research by virtue of a focus on patient centricity and forefront digital technologies. Their PatchAI is the first cognitive platform for collection and predictive analysis of patient-reported data in clinical trials, embedding an AI-powered virtual assistant mimicking human empathetic conversations to engage and motivate patients and increase protocol compliance.

Mhydrogel: A chemical start-up based in Latvia offers therapeutic contact lenses to save eyesight after a chemical eye injury.

OASIS Diagnostics SA: A Polish medtech company develops ONIRY, a non-invasive medical device for quick and robust diagnostics of obstetrical anal sphincter injury using machine learning model. This exam would benefit every woman just after vaginal delivery.

Sineko: A Hungarian company whose GRAID software aims to revolutionise cross-border teleradiology by translating radiological reports. GRAID is a synoptic reporting assistant that enables healthcare industry professionals to not only create high quality structured medical reports, but also to easily translate the whole report with one click into multiple languages. The platform improves the efficiency and quality of medical documentation and promotes residency and patient education, all while paving the road for automatic AI image to text generation.

Surgeonmate: A Portuguese technology-based company focused on developing technical solutions that aim to improve the working conditions of healthcare providers. They developed and patented a textile solution to be worn by the professional healthcare providers while working in places where cold is a problem and a potential source of discomfort exists.

TimeUp: A Portuguese team works on developing a medical device that can be used to monitor and detect the presence of bacteria in urine, alerting healthcare professionals of the potential development of an infection.

UVera: A Polish start-up employs innovation and an interdisciplinary approach to provide skin protection against the whole spectrum of UV sun radiation. Its mission is to create natural and safe UV protection products with a concomitant decrease in negative environmental impact on the planet.

Vigo: A Latvian start-up develops a prescription rehabilitation guide that uses artificial intelligence to help people recover faster and more efficiently from a stroke by providing therapeutic guidance, practical assistance and tools based on cognitive behavioural therapy, in a smartphone interface.

Budapest hosts Europe’s first ever interactive Artificial Intelligence exhibition

robot-artificial intelligence

Europe’s first ever interactive Artificial Intelligence exhibition was held at the Budapest Technical University, on Thursday.

Artificial Intelligence is used today in several applications or devices designed to make day-to-day life simpler, a deputy state secretary of the Innovation and Technology Ministry told a press conference on the event’s sidelines.

A strong position established by Hungary in AI will further boost the country’s economic growth,

Balázs Károly Solymár said.

In the past 20 years, annual venture capital investments in AI-related fields have seen a six fold increase, while there have been a 1,400 percent increase in the number of AI-specialised start-ups during the period, he said.

The volume produced by the global AI-market is expected to increase by an annual 50 percent on average by 2025, said Solymár, who is in charge of info-communications.

The exhibition was organised by Hungary‘s AI Coalition, an umbrella organisation of around 170 universities and academic research centers, technology companies and state actors established in October last year.

Charaf Hassam, a Coalition’s board-member, said the exhibition featured 20 participants. The Coalition’s objective is to present various aspects of AI to the general public in an easy-to-understand way.

Continental opens artificial intelligence development centre in Budapest

artificial intelligence center

German-owned automotive industry supplier Continental AG opened its Deep Machine Learning Competence Center in Budapest on Thursday.

Key factors in selecting the location of the centre included the availability of AI experts, a sound environment for the automotive industry and a proper infrastructure, Jens Bruening, head of the centre, said.

László Palkovics, Hungary’s minister of innovation and technology, said the choice was also motivated by trust between Continental and the Hungarian government.

artificial intelligence center
Photo: MTI

The automotive industry is a key sector for Hungary as it has created many jobs and invested heavily in R+D+I here, the minister said, adding that the government would continue to provide every possible assistance to companies establishing similar centres in Hungary.

Featured image: MTI

Hungarian innovation minister discusses digital challenges, artificial intelligence in Vienna

artificial intelligence AI robot

László Palkovics, the minister for innovation and technology, discussed digital challenges and artificial intelligence at an informal meeting of ministers in charge of competitiveness in Vienna on Monday.

In order to boost EU competitiveness, joint efforts need to be made to promote innovation by industrial companies in the field of AI, he said in a statement.

AI has outstanding importance for Hungary because it offers opportunities for research institutes and universities to join large-scale, European R and D innovation schemes, he said.

The government plans to play a role in implementing EU strategies for such schemes, he added.

Palkovics held consultations with several members of the European Commission. At a meeting with European Commissioner for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip, they reviewed the Digital European Programme (DEP) proposal published in June. The minister welcomed the initiative, saying he agreed with its main objectives because the welfare of EU citizens depended on the success of the digital transition. However, he said, “DEP in itself will not enable us to keep pace with our global competitors” and member states must introduce measures adjusted to their own digital development demands.

Palkovics highlighted Hungarian plans connected with 5G mobile data transmission and a test track in Zalaegerszeg, in western Hungary, for autonomous vehicles.

Hungary joins EU initiative on artificial intelligence

robot artificial intelligence

Hungary joined the European Union’s initiative on artificial intelligence at an event marking Digital Day 2018 in Brussels on Tuesday.

József Pálinkás, head of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH), signed the document under which member states will coordinate their efforts to do research in, make use of, and draft legal regulations pertaining to artificial intelligence, the office said.

The Visegrád Group member countries published a separate statement showing that they would jointly encourage developments in the field.

The NKFIH announced in January 2018 that it would allocate 1 billion forints (EUR 3.2m) to supporting research linked to artificial intelligence (AI).

AI research involves several disciplines of science, such as mathematics, robotics and machine learning, in which several Hungarian research teams are in the frontline in international comparison, Pálinkás said.

A sub-category in the National Excellence Programme and the EU initiative that Hungary has just signed will open new perspectives, including targeted EU support for research teams and industrial-research cooperation projects, he added.

Continental to establish new artificial intelligence centre in Budapest

“German automotive industry Continental is establishing a new software development centre in Budapest that will employ one hundred engineers; the Hungarian Government is providing 1.37 billion forints (EUR 4.4 million) in funding towards the realisation of the 5.5 billion forint (EUR 17.75 million) project”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced.

The Minister stressed that development activities at the new centre will be conducted at the highest possible level of technology and the jobs being created require a particularly high level of education.

There is no longer simply global competition for investments, but also for workers, and major investments increase the country’s workforce retention capacity, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.

 “Young Hungarian engineers are being given an attractive opportunity to make use of their knowledge here at home”, he said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade explained that there is a major technological revolution going on within the global economy, and it remains to be seen which countries are able to provide suitable conditions for the investment of the new industrial-technological era.

He highlighted with relation to job creation that in addition to the number of new jobs, the most important criteria are now also their technological level, added value and research and development.

“Hungary will be successful if the leading corporations of the new technological era continue to have confidence in it”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised, adding that the fact that one of the world’s largest automotive industry companies is establishing its software development centre in Budapest is an important source of feedback with relation to the country’s competitiveness.

The Minister also told the press that Continental Automotive Hungary Ltd. currently employs 8 thousand people in Hungary.

According to the Minister, the automotive industry is leading the technological transformation within the global economy, and if Hungary continues to be successful within the automotive industry, then the Hungarian economy could be the winner of the great digital transformation.

Mr. Szijjártó also said that the Hungarian automotive industry had set yet another record during the first 11 months of last year, generating a production value of 6540.5 billion forints (EUR 21.1bn).

Citing a recent survey by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minister told reporters: Over two-thirds of the German enterprises operating in Hungary regard their own business situation as good, the highest ratio since 2005. More than half of German companies want to increase their existing investment and over 60 percent are planning to expand their capacities.

Executive Vice President of Continental AG’s Advanced Driver Support Systems Business Unit Karl Haupt told the press that one of the most important trends within the automotive industry is the development of self-driven cars, and this is one of the most rapidly growing areas within the sector. Continental develops full systems for self-driven cars.

Head of Sensorics Development at the Business Unit Thomas Brohm said, amongst others, that the company will also be opening its artificial intelligence centre in Budapest in May. The team in Budapest will be leading innovation within the company in this field, and

Hungary’s engineering traditions and economic environment provide excellent support for the company’s plans.

Managing Director of Continental Automotive Hungary Ltd. Róbert Keszte told the press: Continental, which incorporates 29 business sectors and employs a total of over 233 thousand people worldwide, has been present in Hungary for the past 27 years. It operates six factories and a tyre trade centre at various locations around the country, and some 5000 of the company’s 8000 employees in Hungary work within the automotive sector.

Mayor of Budapest’s 9th District János Bácskai recalled the District’s industrial traditions and links to the automotive industry, stressing that it is extremely important for the District that the new research and development centre will be established there.

featured image: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Huawei builds Smart City Nervous System

November 28, 2017, Budapest – Huawei has introduced its new smart city concept, which uses leading ICT technologies, on the Huawei Smart City Summit 2017 in Budapest.

The concept connects the digital and physical worlds across city administration, public services and industrial economies. The company’s Intelligent Operation Centre serves as the brain of the smart city, contains the various cloud databases and the omnipresent city networks, that collect, integrate and share city data. With the help of cloud-based computing, Big Data, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence (AI), the system continuously analyses city services and allows unified coordination and collaboration between them. According to Huawei,

the development of smart cities is unstoppable, mainly due to urbanization.

The company’s income from the market of smart cities can reach USD 4 billion in 2017, and the yearly growth rate of the field can reach 50%.

The Huawei CEE-Nordic region has presented its Smart City concept on the Huawei Smart City Summit 2017, held as part of the China-CEE conference. According to the company, due to the increasing urbanization, by 2025, there will be 27 megacities with 10 million residents, placing extraordinary pressure on public transportation, healthcare services and public services – meaning cities will have to rethink their operation. Cities will have to become smart to keep up with the expectations and needs of their citizens for high quality services and efficient systems.

In order to create a smart city, the digital transformation of the city is of utmost importance.

This needs data-driven systems, which help authorities with the management of the city, and allow the integration of the digital and physical worlds.

„All successful smart city programs must be steered by the leadership of the city, sharing data and information is crucial” – said David Tang. According to the director of the Huawei CEE-Nordic region, we must change the way we share data, in order to allow the interconnection of the departments of the city and allow them to share data. A dedicated smart team is also needed, along with long-term and stabile investments, and city leaders must work together with a leading digital provider that can manage the transformation. This partner has to be open-minded, willing to share its values with other technical partners, and has to create a full ecosystem for the smart city. Huawei is willing to be and capable of being this kind of leading digital partner – said David Tang.

Also, Huawei says that the leadership of the city has to build ubiquitous connections spanning its people and things, and at the same time, link its employees, customers, partners and suppliers together. The city’s operations must be based on big data and artificial intelligence, and needs to automate its business processes with real-time decision making, to realize simple, effective and intelligent operations.

According to Peng Xi, president of the CEE-Nordic Enterprise Business Group of Huawei:

„a Smart City is like a living organism powered by a nervous system.

This nervous system comprises a “brain” [the control centre] and “peripheral nerves” [the network and sensors], gathering real-time information about the status of the city, transmitting the data, enabling the “brain” to analyse and make informed decisions, delivering feedback commands, and ultimately carrying out intelligent actions. This creates a seamless connection between the digital and physical worlds. Huawei is dedicated to building a strong nervous system for Smart Cities with the help of such leading ICT technologies as cloud computing, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Our goal is to be the foundation that supports the robust and sustainable development of Smart Cities”.

The brain of the Smart City

Huawei has also introduced the Intelligent Operation Center (IOC) on the event, the solution that functions as the brain of the smart city, connecting the digital and physical worlds. The infrastructure of the IOC comprises distributed cloud data centers and ubiquitous city networks that collect, integrate and share city information, enabling real-time visibility of the city. By using big data, machine learning and AI technologies, the IOC delivers valuable insights to facilitate city planning and management of vital services such as transportation and security.

Artificial intelligence and smart cities

According to Huawei, artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in Smart City development.

Huawei doesn’t think of artificial intelligence as a new business or industrial branch that has just been invented.

The company invests in intelligent sensing, cognition and computing. Huawei now develops AI systems that allow for synergy between hardware and software, as well as devices and the cloud.

Huawei Smart City solutions are already using artificial intelligence, with the intelligent city operations center, smart transportation, or face- and number plate recognition. The AI-based video analysis technology is expanding the application scope of security technologies and implements new functions, for example, real-time vehicle trajectory tracking, which were available only in movies. Furthermore, AI will bring huge changes to areas like public safety, healthcare and city transportation. Smartphone users are already connected to smart city services, for example in Estonia, where they are connected to the police and the fire department.

Wang Yanmin, director of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group in the CEE region said, „smart devices and artificial intelligence help the users in becoming smart citizens and use the advantages of smart cities.

We are at the beginning of a new era, where artificial intelligence is no longer restricted to supercomputers, but is also a part of smartphones.

The first mobile artificial intelligence processor in the world has debuted with the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, as its camera recognises things and themes. Thanks to Huawei’s developments, AI is now a part of smartphones, and available to everyone”, emphasises Wang.

IDC estimates that by the 2021 60% of the world’s population will own a smartphone, and 8.1 billion smartphones will be shipped in the next four years — making mobile the pervasive platform for AI. According to the latest forecast of the company, worldwide spending on cognitive and AI systems is forecast to reach $57.6 billion in 2021, and a continuously expanding number of applications will use it.

The smart city market expands quickly

Huawei is operating 13 OpenLabs and 36 innovation centers worldwide, to contribute to the development of Smart City infrastructure.

The Smart City solutions of the company are being used in almost 40 countries worldwide, in more than 120 cities, in 9 just in China. The company’s revenue form the Smart City market can reach USD 4-billion in 2017, and the business branch can grow dynamically in the next two years, by 40-50% at a yearly rate, according to the forecast of Huawei.