EUREKA 2009 Award for RAILMAP - Press Release

24/06/2009

Project EUREKA E! 3161 LOGCHAIN+ E-RAILMAP developed by JERID together with Austrian and German partners has been recognized by EUREKA international jury as the winner of the EUREKA Innovation Days 2009 Award.

Lisbon, Portugal, June 19, 2009 - OLTIS Group today announced that the project coordinator JERID, the member of OLTIS Group won the EUREKA Innovation Days Award 2009 in Lisbon, Portugal during Innovation Days 2009. In recognition of the best EUREKA project, the EUREKA 2009 award was given to the project EUREKA E!3161 LOGCHAIN+ E-RAILMAP - Electronic Railway Map of Europe. The award aims to distinguish innovative projects with high social impact and application to the market and is devoted by EUREKA on decision of two independent experts, Professor Manuel Carrondo from Portugal and Dr Eberhard Seitz from Germany. The Czech company JERID, together with Austrian and German partners, has developed an electronic map that allows great efficiencies the organization of logistical networks of rail.

The award was given by the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education José Mariano Gago in a ceremony that took place during the 4th Innovation Days 2009. The delivery of the award was one of the highlights of the Ministerial Conference EUREKA which met in Lisbon representatives and ministers from 38 member countries of the European network of research and technology development, which last year was led by Portugal. This new EUREKA award integrates the concept of a stamp of innovation that the network wants to convey, winner who already have products supporting the market and thus its promotion. This was one of the proposals of the Portuguese presidency of EUREKA, which also wants to promote the idea to hold a fair at the close of the conference to show the projects supported by the network.

Innovation Days was an event organised by the Portuguese Innovation Agency, AdI (Agência de Inovação) on June 18-20, 2009 at Lisbon's International Fairground. It aimed to promote the results of successful market-oriented R&D projects, boosting their economic exploitation and promoting new partnerships between companies, researchers and investors. During 3 days, some 20,000 visitors attended this fourth edition of the event, drawn by a lively interactive exhibition of R&D project results, open-air demonstrations of new technologies and a parallel programme of conferences, workshops and brokerage sessions, enabling the international valorisation of the results on show and stimulating new project ideas. The 2009 Innovation Days was part of the official calendar of events for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.

EUREKA is the European support network for industrial innovations. This year, for the first time, Innovation Days included EUREKA World, an area within the showground dedicated to the results of EUREKA projects that have reached the market, or are close to the market, with innovative products and services. The EUREKA World was also the venue for the EUREKA Innovation Days Awards Ceremony, attended by innovation, research and science Ministers and other high-level guests from across Europe and beyond, along with other high-level guests from the world of innovation

E-RAILMAP was the project selected by the jury of the Eureka Innovation Days Award, gaining a funding of 10 thousand Euros to be used to promote the product that is already being marketed. This project was selected from 19 nominations submitted this edition of the award, from 40 projects presented in Lisbon. E-RAILMAP - Electronic Railmap of Europe was developed by Czech company JERID with Austrian and German partners. The project consists of an electronic map of railways in Europe, with static and dynamic objects, and allows greater efficiency in the organization of logistical networks. The development was initiated in March 2004 and lasted until 2007 and is currently marketing the product. The company already has 800 customers across Europe and is already expanding into the Chinese market. EUREKA projects E!3538 GOENGINE and E!3407 EUROAGRI+ OMS were also nominated as finalists for this award for innovation. The first project GEOENGINE, Development of Goengine Demonstrators, has developed a technology that allows 40% reduction in fuel consumption with a big impact on reducing CO2 emissions in cars. The second project is OMS, Obesity (Metabolic Syndrome), research on a new concept of diet rich in Omega 3 which helps to combat obesity.

During the award ceremony after taking-over the award, Petr Kroca, Marketing Director of OLTIS Group, expressed thanks to the project partners for excellent cooperation, the LOGCHAIN+ umbrella for the support and to the EUREKA for facilitation to develop and finish the project which supports railway freight transport as sustainable and environment friendly transport mode.

Press releases published on other websites:

http://pr.euractiv.com/press-release/czech-led-project-e-3161-logchain-e-railmap-wins-eureka-innovation-days-award-2009-102

http://www.eureka.be/files/:7717888

http://www.eurekanetwork.org/inaction/viewSuccessStory.do?docid=3735374

http://www.msmt.cz/pro-novinare/dalsi-prvenstvi-ceskeho-projektu-v-programu-eureka

http://www.novinky.cz/vzdelavani/172401-cesky-projekt-ziskal-prvenstvi-v-programu-eureka.html