Commission announces the winners of Horizon Impact Award 2020

The winning projects have helped to reduce the CO2 footprint of numerous leading airlines, developed the first transparent display that several companies have already put on the market, improved the quality of life for children with heart failure, used innovative technology to preserve threatened species in the Southern Ocean and conserved European heritage by digitally translating historical handwritten documents.

The winners were announced at the European Research and Innovation Days in Brussels. An independent jury selected the winning projects from 10 finalists. Each of the winners will receive €10,000:

• CARING (France), produced an ‘eco-software’ SkyBreathe®, which analyses millions of flights every year and identifies best practices to save fuel. The software has been deployed in every continent, with clients including Air France, CEBU Pacific, Flydubai, to name a few. The deployment in lower middle-income countries provides a means to reduce their CO2 footprint that contributes to global warming.

• INVISIBLE (Portugal), generated a new technological field, where the results of this project have endless applications in a wide range of industries. Manufactured in Europe and working with SAMSUNG, the project INVISIBLE has developed the first transparent display that is commercialised by several companies. 

• MACH (Germany), developed a mobile driving unit EXCOR®Active that provides mobility and independence to children with end-stage heart failure pending heart transplant operations. The driving unit for blood pumps is smaller, lighter and portable and allows children and their families to be mobile, eliminating time spent in the hospitals. 

• OCEAN SENTINEL (France), creates environmental and a policy impact by preserving the most threatened marine species including albatrosses, sharks, sea turtles, thus protecting the ecosystem. The project comprises an innovative technology to detect illegal fishing activity and gathers information for authorities, regional fishing and conservation agreements and non-governmental organization that are fighting to preserve the ocean and its inhabitants.

• TRANSKRIBUS (Austria), uses artificial intelligence (AI) to access and analyse historical documents and archives, as a result contributes to the preservation of European heritage. TRANKSRIBUS technology merges the humanities with AI to pioneer a platform that enables immediate translation of historical handwritten documents.