Bank of Ireland, Akara and Webio among companies honoured at AI Awards

• Author: Ciara O'Brien
• Published date: 23 November 2022
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

Bank of Ireland won best application of AI in a large enterprise, while Kinesense took home the award for best use of AI in an SME for its AI-centric research project, the Visual Intelligence Search Platform (VISP)

In the start-up sector, SeamlessCare was named winner for the AI application Empathic, which helps non-verbal people and people with communication difficulties to communicate by interpreting short recordings of non-verbal vocalisations.

The awards, which are designed to recognise excellence in the artificial intelligence field across a diverse range of sectors, are in their fourth year. Held by AI Ireland in partnership with Microsoft, they support the growth and development of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in Ireland.

UCD's AI Premie was named best application of AI to achieve social good, which combines AI with patented biomarkers and clinical expertise to help diagnose pre-eclampsia and predict the patient's future outcome. The project also took home the award for best application of AI in an academic research body.

"It's been fantastic to witness the breadth and depth of the AI Award's winners today," said Mark Kelly, founder of AI Ireland. "As the world undergoes seismic change, the sheer breadth of AI and Machine Learning, research, development and implementation across private, public and academic organisations is exciting and shows how AI can help us embrace change and avail of massive opportunities in this new reality."

Trinity College spin-out Akara Robotoics took the award for the best application of AI in healthcare. The company has developed a clinical grade, fully autonomous UV disinfection robot, dubbed Violet. The robot uses advanced sensing and AI abilities to navigate complex hospital environments.

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