On March 29, the award ceremony of the 3^rd of IN3+ Award: One Million for Innovation took place, and the three winning projects were unveiled.

This ceremony, broadcast online, was attended by His Excellencies, the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, António Costa. It also had the testimony of the winners of previous editions, Professor Elvira Fortunato and Professor José Barata.

This moment of celebration of the culture of innovation was also assumed as a space for sharing multiple perspectives. Alexandra Leitão, Minister of State Modernization and Public Administration, Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Anabela Pedroso, Secretary of State for Justice and Miguel Cruz, Secretary of State for the Treasury, were present.

The big winner was the IDINA project (Non-Authoritative Inclusive Digital Identity), a tool that can be very useful in remote areas of some countries, which do not have the infrastructures that allow their citizens to be credited, giving the necessary authority to credible institutions, such as schools, health institutions, local authorities, etc., attest to the birth and experience of citizens from events such as vaccination or admission to education.

Second place was attributed to the AICeBlock project, which proposes the development of a platform, supported by blockchain, which allows to foster confidence in basic applications in Artificial Intelligence through its certification.

The HIGHLIGHT project, which came in third place, focuses on nanotechnology with the development of an ink that allows the manipulation of light, giving the unique possibility of visible or invisible optical variation to the human eye.

The first place received a prize of 600 thousand euros, the second 250 thousand euros and the third 150 thousand euros, to be applied in the financing to support the development of the ideas presented and the implementation of the projects.

“I believe that realizing the winning projects will bring something new to the daily lives of millions of people, in Portugal and in more and less developed countries, ensuring the security and the right to the identity of all citizens, values that have guided the INCM for centuries”.

Gonçalo Caseiro
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Mint and Official Printing Office

DISCOVER THE WINNING IDEAS

1st Place

IDINA – Identidade Digital Inclusiva Não Autoritativa

This is a tool that can be very useful in remote areas of some countries, which do not have the infrastructure that allows this accreditation of their citizens, giving the necessary authority to credible institutions, such as schools, health institutions, local authorities, etc., to attest the birth and experience of citizens from events such as vaccination or enrollment in education. In some countries, this platform may subsequently integrate or even assume the role of Authoritative registration, fulfilling a United Nations premise: every citizen must have a valid identification card.

2nd Place

AICeBlock – Artificial Intelligence Certification through the Blockchain

Proposes the development of a platform, supported by blockchain, which allows the fostering of confidence in basic applications in Artificial Intelligence through its certification. With this solution, it will be possible to interpret, track and audit the predictions of “smart” models used in areas such as autonomous driving or computer diagnostics.

3rd Place

HIGHLIGHT

Focuses on nanotechnology with the development of an ink that allows the manipulation of light, giving the unique possibility of visible or invisible optical variation to the human eye. According to the creators, this product could be very useful to the anti-counterfeiting market, for example to apply to all types of documents and security seals.