New Infrared Technologies (NIT) awared with the Innovation Radar Prize 2018. Industrial and Enabling Tech Category

New Infrared Technologies (NIT) has been awarded with the Innovation Radar Prize 2018, category ‘Industrial & Enabling Tech’. This prize category aims to recognize new technologies and components, developed with EU-funding, that have industrial relevance and/or potential to enable the emergence of new applications.

NIT, a Spanish company with a world-class infrared sensor manufacturing technology, has developed a solution called CLAMIR based in the requirements of the Industry 4.0 towards a ‘zero-defect’ goal, providing a continuous, smart monitoring and real-time control of the manufacturing process. Thanks to a unique technology and to the H2020 Project MASHES outcome, NIT is implementing today the technology of tomorrow, bringing into the market innovative solutions for quality assurance and process control of laser-based processes.

The awards ceremony took place at the European Commission’s ICT 2018 in Vienna, Austria on 6 December. Mr. Arturo Baldasano, CEO of New Infrared Technologies, received the prize from Mrs. Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and from Mr. Robert Hofer, Austrian Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology.

The overall 2018 Innovation Radar Prize has been awarded to Gr3n for their breakthrough technology for ‘upcycling’ PET / polyester.

About the Innovation Radar Prize

The Innovation Radar is an EC initiative to identify high-potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation projects. 48 of the best EU-funded innovators have been identified through this initiative to compete with their EU-funded innovation in five categories for the Innovation Radar Prize 2018. These SMEs, university teams, spinoffs and start-ups reflect the diversity of EU-funded research and innovation and come from every corner of Europe.

The first stage of the competition took place over 2 weeks when the public could vote on the Futurium website for the innovators and innovations on the longlist that impressed them the most. Over 50.000 votes were cast by the public and selected the 20 finalists. The “final” took place in Vienna, where a panel of 4 judges decided the winners on the basis of a 3 minute pitch delivered during a special pitching session at ICT2018

The European Commission’s Innovation Radar is about finding excellence across all the EU funded research and innovation projects. It identifies high potential innovations and the key innovators behind them in projects that have received investment from Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation program. So far, more than 2000 innovative organizations have been included in the Innovation Radar.

In 2014 the European Commission’s DG CONNECT started collecting a broad set of data about the innovative outputs of EU-funded Research and Innovation projects. Using a model developed with the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission has been analyzing this data to extract insights and intelligence about the best innovations and innovators. Potential innovations and innovators are then identified with the help of experts. The Innovation Radar also provides guidance and support during the project duration to help the innovation reach the market.

General information on NIT nomination for the Innovation Radar Prize 2018