Winners of the UK ICT Pioneers 2015 announced
Jonathan Roberts from Lancaster University is the overall winner of the 2015 UK ICT Pioneers competition for his research Nano-Identification: Fingerprints of the Future.
Jonathan came first in the Future ICT category and went on to triumph following a Dragon's Den-style pitch to claim a £3,000 prize.
The announcement was made last night at an exhibition and awards ceremony in London. Industry judges and sponsors of the competition were from; the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Facebook, British Computing Society (BCS), Samsung and BT.
Philip Nelson, Chief Executive of EPSRC, who presented the prizes, said: "ICT Pioneers is our regular competition that we use to showcase the best work produced by UK PhD students. It's awarded to students who can demonstrate the excellence and commercial potential of their ICT related research."
Fifteen finalists showcased their research at the prestigious event which was compered by Quentin Cooper. The category winners were:
- Leo Laughlin, University of Bristol
- Callum Littlejohns, University of Southampton
- Andra Adams, University of Cambridge
- Jonathan Roberts, Lancaster University
They were awarded £2,000 each and pitched their research to a 'Dragon's Den' style panel to industry experts and sponsors.
Jonathan is a PhD student at the EPSRC NOWNANO Doctoral Training Centre, a research collaboration between Lancaster University and the University of Manchester. He said: "My invention uses next-generation quantum technology to uniquely identify any product. It addresses two problems - it can solve the problem of counterfeit products which happens in many different sectors including the fashion, automotive and pharmaceutical industries.
"Secondly, it addresses the problem of how you spot the difference between real and fake devices that are communicating over a network. Imagine taking a fake drug using the wrong ingredients or having a self-driving car communicating with a hacked server. Both could put people's lives at risk. Security is essential.
"My invention involves the creation of devices with unique identities on a nano-scale employing state-of-the-art quantum technology. Each device will be unique and 100 per cent impossible to copy. I've created an optical identity using graphene and an electronic identity. We're now working towards measuring these devices with a smart phone set-up so you can authenticate any device at any point in the supply chain.
"By slimming digital fingerprints down to an atomic scale we've created devices that are not only smaller and cheaper but also fundamentally more secure than any other existing technology."
In a video the industry judges and sponsors explain the impact of ICT research to advance innovative technologies within their business.
Provided by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council