The awards for the 6th edition of the Isdefe R&D programme to gather and manage R&D ideas were presented on 2 June.
The event, held from the Isdefe assembly hall with the minimum number of attendees and all the measures recommended by health authorities, was broadcast live on the YouTube social network https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSqI9NUp1sQ
Led by Isdefe engineer Ms Belinda Misiego, from the Innovation, Processes and Transformation Office, and the head of internal communication, Ms Francisca Sánchez, from Isdefe's Administration and Human Resources Department, the event was opened by Isdefe's CEO, Mr Francisco Quereda, who thanked Major General José Luis Murga Martínez, Deputy Director General of Planning, Technology and Innovation of the Ministry of Defence's General Directorate of Armament and Material, Mr José Francisco López Sánchez, Chief Inspector of the General Sub-Directorate of Logistics and Innovation of the National Police, and Mr José Mª Yusta Loyo, Professor at the University of Zaragoza, for attending the event virtually.
Mr Francisco Quereda noted the importance of innovation at Isdefe and the company's interest in this area. Isdefe, through the Innovation, Processes and Transformation Office, has set the following goals:
- Transform ideas and opportunities into R&D projects that allow Isdefe to stay at the technological forefront in its areas of activity
- Identify emerging technologies, opportunities and threats in order to train Isdefe personnel in advance to respond quickly to the future needs of the General State Administration
- Encourage an innovative culture, synergies between Isdefe's offices and departments and the transfer of knowledge as a basis for the company's constant improvement
- Enhance Isdefe’s role as a technology-based state-owned company that is capable of invigorating the national and European R&D ecosystem
- Optimise public spending on R&D by maximising the value provided by Isdefe employees to the company's clients and to society at large
- Disseminate knowledge of the new strategic areas and the results of R&D initiatives
The CEO of Isdefe concluded by congratulating all the Isdefe employees who, during 2020, devoted their time "to the effort to search for potentially innovative projects that can drive future activities at Isdefe"
For his part, Mr Jesús Alonso, Isdefe's Director of Business Development, noted how enthusiastically the 2020 edition of this programme was received, with 27 proposals submitted, doubling the proposals received in the previous year's edition. Mr Jesús Alonso pointed out that four ideas were recognised, including the two winners, within the scope of the programme, which is to “seek ideas to develop proofs of concept that can be incorporated into the activities that the company then carries out for the different areas of the administration for which we work”. He said that the ideas presented, even those that do not win, are not discarded, but are forwarded to the company's various programmes, such as the Horizons Network, the Isdefe Transformation Plan or to those areas where these proposals can be studied in some way.
This initiative highlights the entrepreneurial spirit of Isdefe employees, who were highly receptive of the programme, as evidenced by the number of ideas presented, the degree of technical maturity and the collaboration between proponents from different Isdefe departments and work centres. As the Director of Business Development stated, new proponents are joining this effort; indeed, 50% of the proposals this year come from new proponents. The Director ended his remarks by inviting Isdefe's staff to continue in this effort to innovate.
The award for the best idea in the methodological field in this sixth edition went to the SEMODI project: "New methodologies to track money flows in order to prevent and prosecute criminal acts".
The goal of this project is to investigate new methodologies to track the flow of money so as to prevent, prosecute and mitigate criminal and illegal acts resulting from these flows, such as the economic crimes of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
This idea was proposed by Ms Raquel Pastor and Mr Juan Carlos Iravedra.
The award for the best idea in the field of technology was presented to the project "SIGEEN: National energy efficiency GIS tool to define strategies in a just transition".
This project is focused on developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) capable of representing the current state of energy efficiency in buildings by disaggregating their partial and global consumption and emission indicators. It also aims to include the potential provided by the processing of satellite images with remote sensing and economic, social and thematic variables. All of this will make it possible to define strategies to improve national energy efficiency, help the areas most in need, promote self-supply and identify those actions that can yield the highest efficiency with the lowest investment.
This idea was proposed by Mr. Carlos Rodríguez, Ms. Cristina Gómez, Mr. Javier Cordobés, Mr. Carlos Pedrazuela, Mr. Antonio Díez y Mr Miguel Alonso-Majagranzas.
The honourable mentions went to the projects "GECO - Managing applied knowledge in Isdefe's digital transformation", and "OFINPRO - Observatory of financing of international projects funded by multilateral organisations", which were put forth by Mr Daniel Díez and Mr Gerardo Minguela (GECO) and Mr José Félix Porras (OFINPRO).
Link to the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSqI9NUp1sQ