Milan, 15th May 2020 – Fincons Group, an international system integration consultancy with offices in Italy, Switzerland, the UK, France, Germany and the U.S., is proud to announce that CONTENT4ALL, an R&D project sponsored by the European Commission, has been awarded the prestigious NAB Technology Innovation Award.

CONTENT4ALL, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 762021, aims at automating sign language interpreting using novel technologies and AI algorithms. Fincons Group is system integrator and project-lead for the project consortium which includes: two research entities, the University of Surrey (UK) and the Fraunhofer HHI Research center (DE), two end-user organizations, VRT (BE) and Swiss TXT (CH), and Human Factors Consult (DE).

You can watch a short video introduction for CONTENT4ALL here: https://bit.ly/2T5IOvn

The NAB accolade rewards organizations that bring advanced technology exhibits presenting advanced research and development projects in communications technologies that have not yet been commercialized.

In addition to featuring ground-breaking innovation, CONTENT4ALL importantly aims to help broadcasters make additional content available in sign language, reaching a broader and more inclusive audience while also reducing production costs. The solution will thus enable broadcasters to meet increasing regulatory requirements such as those set out by the UN in Art.30 and 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Michele Moretti, Fincons Group CEO, comments: “Fincons Group has always focused on investing in innovation as a catalyst for growth, enabling us to develop our offering and approach international markets with cutting-edge solutions. We are proud to win with a project that combines some of our core values such as innovation and engagement in socially beneficial initiatives.”

“A key part of our process is to develop innovation that stems from real market requirements so that the results of our R&D, even at pre-competitive stage, can truly benefit both the community and our clients. The cooperation between partners and the composition of the workgroup, which includes two broadcasters, ensures that the project responds to real market needs,” adds Francesco Moretti, CEO Fincons.US and Fincons Group Deputy CEO.

To achieve these bold objectives, the team created a workflow integrated within a real broadcasting scenario that reproduces a sign language interpreter as a realistic virtual human in real-time. The sign language interpreter can be located in a remote studio while signing animates the virtual human generated at the broadcaster’s premise.

The technology is based on advanced Deep Learning algorithms which track body, face and hand movements and derive parameters to animate the virtual human. The end-result is a 3D photorealistic avatar, named “realatar” due to its remarkable correspondence to the real person.

“Receiving this award is recognition of the hard work carried out by our R&D teams, but also of the spirit of innovation and cooperation shared by the whole consortium. As the team continues to investigate new solutions we are also working on algorithms and technologies to explore automatic sign generation starting from subtitles,” concludes Giacomo Inches, Innovation Technologist at Fincons Group and project manager for CONTENT4ALL.

“The content4all project to me is much more than combining AI and Avatar technology. It is rather a movement towards every day virtually tele presence in TV production also providing more freedom of choice to the deaf. We are proud that we could contribute to this movement as part of the national Swiss public broadcaster,” adds Robin Ribback, Head of Innovation Management, Swiss TXT.

“For Flemish public broadcaster VRT, inclusivity matters. We are proud to see how this European research project delivers solid results in the important field of sign language. VRT wants to thank all of the partners in the project and considers this award as a helping hand in implementing even more sign language into our production processes,” ends Stijn Lehaen, CTO VRT.

-ENDS-

About Fincons Group
With over 1600 employees worldwide and 37 years of experience, Fincons is an award-winning IT business consultancy, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, digital, technology and operations to a diverse range of industries. In the Media sector, the Group has long term and successful relationships with Tier-1 clients, providing solutions and ICT services covering the entire Digital Supply Chain, from Rights Management, Programming and Scheduling, to Advertising Sales and Omnichannel Video Delivery. Fincons has offices in the UK (London), Italy (Milan, Rome, Bari, Verona, Catania), Switzerland (Lugano, Bern, Zurich, Küssnacht am Rigi), Germany (Munich), France (Paris) and in the US (New York, Los Angeles).

For more information, visit www.finconsgroup.com

Source: RealWire

By Manpreet Dhillon, Head of Legal Digital Transformation, ContractPodAi Contracts represent each and every company’s past successes, current obligations, and future opportunities. As businesses grow, ...

Source: RealWire

Last year, we helped a client take a hard look at an issue related to cannabis and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a fascinating project and WTO lawyers took preliminary interest in the issue. We were told that cannabis had not come before the WTO in any formal or informal context to that […]

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Rolls-Royce Power Systems adopts Iotics’ operating environment and toolset to expand its digital ecosystem and deliver Customer Service 4.0

14 May 2020: Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems, has selected Iotics’ technology to enable digital solutions with asset-focused digital twins. Iotics’ technology delivers Rolls-Royce the capability to unlock over 200 data sources, brokering interactions to create digital twins of their in-field assets, and receive real-time event insights across customer, supplier and partner boundaries. As a result, the company is delivering exceptional client experiences and high value services.

Chief IT Digital Officer of Rolls-Royce Power Systems Jürgen Winterholler said, “Iotics’ technology is helping us realise our vision of placing our customers at the heart of everything we do, exploiting digital twin technology to deliver the best service and to enable our customers’ businesses. Together with Iotics we are building digital solutions around how they work for our customers’ needs.”

The Iotics and Rolls-Royce partnership began in May 2018, with Iotics’ technology complementing Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ digital products and services - including the customer service tool Go!Manage. The result was a single source of truth for asset information which enables the vision of Customer Service 4.0. The two companies have now signed an ongoing agreement that will allow Rolls-Royce Power Systems to harness Iotics technology to realise this vision. Starting within its extensive rail ecosystem, Rolls-Royce Power Systems sees the transformational potential of physical products and assets having their own digital twins that securely capture, share and exchange data and controls across their entire lifecycle - powering solutions for the company, its customers, partners and suppliers.

Enterprises are transforming business models, operations and efficiency by realising the full potential of unlocked data silos and real-time event insights streaming across brokered interactions. The transformative application of Rolls-Royce’s vision enabled by Iotics’ technology will drive operational efficiencies across the industry, including increased service life, proactive maintenance, enhanced performance and responsive service provision, reducing environmental impact at every level from engine to network. The Iotics’ operating environment and toolset enable interactions between infinite endpoints, with access to all data and controls, throughout their entire lives. This is the key to the Iotics vision where anything can interact with, and read, any other thing, fully realising the promise of AI and Machine Learning.

Winterholler outlined the potential opportunity for Rolls-Royce: “Customer Service 4.0 means seeing the world the way your customers do, collaborating with them, their customers, and our service partners, to deliver greater efficiencies, enhanced insights and new opportunities, without compromising on the quality and security they expect from Rolls-Royce Power Systems. We have chosen Iotics to deliver the comprehensive secure interoperability we need to make Customer Service 4.0 a reality.”

CEO of Iotics Robin Brattel said, “We are delighted to announce the ongoing relationship between Iotics and Rolls-Royce Power Systems. This is a strong endorsement of our operating environment and toolset from one of the world’s most innovative and pioneering enterprises. Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ vision of the future of next generation customer service, enabled by ground-breaking digital solutions, is inspiring and precisely the sort of project Iotics’ technology was engineered to facilitate.”

The successful partnership between Iotics and Rolls-Royce Power Systems follows the announcement in November 2019 of a £6.5 million Iotics investment by leading European investors: Talis Capital, IQ Capital and Breed Reply.

To see video of the Iotics-enabled Digital Rail Ecosystem, visit: https://vimeo.com/393668517

About Rolls-Royce Power Systems
Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany and employs more than 10,000 people. The product portfolio includes MTU-brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, power generation, heavy land, rail and defence vehicles and for the oil and gas industry as well as diesel and gas systems and battery containers for mission critical, standby and continuous power, combined generation of heat and power, and microgrids. Medium-speed engines from Bergen power ships and power generation applications.

For more information, please visit: www.mtu-solutions.com

About Iotics
Iotics is the leader in digital twin technology and digital ecosystem enablement, empowering enterprises in their unique digital transformation journeys. The Iotics operating environment and toolset enable interactions between any valued asset - people, places or things - with access to all data and controls, throughout their entire lives. This is the key to the Iotics vision where any thing can interact with, and read, any other thing, where the promise of AI and Machine Learning can be fully realized.

For more information, please visit: www.iotics.com or contact:
Ali Nicholl, Head of Engagement, Iotics, ali@iotics.com / + 44 (0) 7714 429562
Peter Rennison, PRPR, pr@prpr.co.uk / + 44 (0)1442 245030 (photography available)

Notes for editors:
Rolls-Royce Power Systems Asset-Focused Digital Twin Background
Each Iotics digital twin is a real-time, event-driven virtual representation of a physical product or asset, including its lifecycle, context, operating environment, behaviour, ecosystem and performance. This means that every Rolls-Royce Power Systems physical product will have its own digital twin that securely captures, shares and exchanges data and controls across a range of management systems for use by Rolls-Royce Power Systems, its customers, partners and suppliers.

An Iotics digital twin captures events across the entire lifecycle of an asset, creating a secure timeline for making informed data-driven decisions and allowing unrelated data sources to interact seamlessly. Event streams can also be written to distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain, while Iotics’ patented cloud-hosted middleware brings different data sources together to improve productivity and increase efficiency.

Source: RealWire

According to deeper analysis – the DEA wasn’t even complying with the protocols within the agreement and thus have been mismanaging the medical cannabis research programs for decades – in some cases, at the cost of federal marijuana patients’ lives. The question that we should be asking is; If this was not the government – and some corporation mucking about like this with people’s lives – would we tolerate it? Why are we allowing an organization that has such a shoddy past to dictate what we can and cannot put into our bodies? As I sit here – still not even scratching the surface of all this madness – I can only acknowledge that at times reality is far more bizarre than fiction could ever be.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on nearly every industry in the global economy. The nascent and volatile cannabis industry was not exempt and, in some jurisdictions, has been impacted significantly due to local or state shelter or stay-at home orders. In most states where adult-use cannabis is legal, local and state governments have deemed […]

In the latest episode of the Cannacurio Podcast from Cannabiz Media, my co-host, Amanda Guerrero, and I discuss license numbers and cannabis license verification as well as retail and dispensary license data in 2020. We also speak with Tim Sultan, Executive Director or the Marijuana Industry Trade Association (MITA), an Arizona cannabis industry business association. […]

Anyone who knows me knows that I really enjoy sports of all kinds. I was a college soccer player and played competitive club soccer in Florida before that from the age of 7 onward (and I now play in an adult co-ed league in Los Angeles). Unfortunately, COVID-19 has put the damper on watching live […]

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You no longer have to be a Maine resident to open a recreational marijuana business in Maine. The state and Wellness Connection of Maine reached a legal agreement Monday stipulating that the Office of Marijuana Policy will no longer enforce a residency requirement on those seeking an adult-use cannabis business license. The decision essentially invites […]