The United Kingdom, Thales UK and Intellect, a technology hub representing hundreds of United Kingdom businesses, have launched a project to identify and trial technologies, solutions and ideas from companies and academic institutions that can be used to bolster aviation security.
Proposals are due by Sept. 10 and successful demonstrators have the opportunity to share in a cash prize fund of $77 million provided by Thales UK, which is the U.K. division of France’s Thales.
“Terrorists will always look for new ways to beat the system which is why we have to stay ahead of the game in protecting our national security,” Pauline Neville-Jones, the U.K. minister of security, said in a statement. There is no reason why an innovative university project couldn’t be the next equivalent of biometric passports or baggage scanners.”
Under the INSTINCT-Technology Demonstrator 2 (TD2) project, the proposals will be validated through trials and analysis conducted in a combination of live physical environments, including U.K. airports and synthetic environments. The TD2 project is looking for ideas and solutions that can improve aviation security at any stage in the air travel process, including planning and booking a trip, through boarding an aircraft.
“Ideally this would improve, or at least not affect, passenger experience and or airport revenues,” Thales and Intellect say.
INSTINCT, which stands for Innovation in Science and Technology in Counter-Terrorism, is a government program aimed at encouraging industry and academia to find new counter- terrorism ideas and solutions.
In addition to possibly sharing in the prize funds, other benefits to participating companies include the opportunity to test their technology in a live environment, obtaining more experience with the aviation security environment and how their technology works in that market, access to aviation and industry experts to help them demonstrate and market their technology as well as access to potential customers and end users.
Also, TD2 offers potential financial support to offset “reasonable” costs for taking part in the trials. For more information, contact: