Nine little-known protagonists of change, belonging to different sectors, were awarded in the first edition of the initiative organized by ESET, for their respective progress-oriented commitment. An Italian among the winners
ESET, a global leader in the cybersecurity market, announces the “Heroes of Progress 2022”, unknown and internationally active visionary thinkers who have contributed to progress in various sectors, thanks to the use of technology. The shortlist was selected through a rigorous selection process in which candidates provided a full description of their work and the impact this has had on a social and economic level. The entry process required applicants to include details of any technology they invented, adopted or improved, including information on how it advanced industries, societies or communities. A jury of experts, chaired by Ignacio Sbampato, Chief Business Officer of ESET, reviewed over 50 applications before selecting the shortlist of ten.
“ESET places immense importance on the development of science and the technology, research and corporate responsibility initiatives that our company promotes with collaborators, customers, partners and the communities in which we operate,” comments Sbampato. “We are proud to showcase the extraordinary achievements of Heroes of Progress around the world and celebrate the progressive minds who help make our planet a better place.”
The Heroes of Progress of this first edition are:
- Ken Fujiwara from Japan. Co-founder of UMITRON is on a mission to promote sustainable aquaculture. With colleagues Masahiko Yamada and Takuma Okamoto, Fujiwara developed the world's first algorithm that uses machine learning to evaluate fish feeding in real time, assessing both the size of the fish and when they lose their appetite.
2 & 3. Ruth Hershler e Cecil Hershler dal Canada. The couple runs Education without Borders, a non-profit organization that supports children in South Africa. They developed the “School in a Box” program that provides students from low-income families with the technology needed to change their future by giving them access to greater opportunities.
- Ligia Kornowska dala Polonia. Kornowska is co-founder of Data Lake, an EU-funded start-up that is creating an international medical information donation system that provides large, high-quality data sets to researchers for medical and scientific advancement. For the past three years, the leading Polish medical journal, Puls Medycyny, has included her among the “100 most influential people in Polish healthcare”. Ligia was also included in Forbes' "25 under 25" list.
- Giuseppe Mastroviti from Italy. Mastroviti has developed a method to provide energy to electric vehicles through an inductive charging system installed along the road. The system, currently in use on the A35 Brebemi, works thanks to vehicles that pass over the coils and communicate with the system through an electromagnetic field, providing energy to recharge the car's battery.
- Michaela Musilova from Slovakia. Dr. Musilova is an astrobiologist and director of the HI-SEAS analog space research station. She has worked for NASA, the University of London Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, and has commanded over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars.
- Junto Ohki from Japan. Through the ShuR group, Ohki has developed a video chat interpretation service (VRS) that the deaf community can use via smartphone, tablet or PC. He also created an online sign language dictionary. His work has had a significant impact on the deaf community.
- Bass Salah dall'Australia. Through their company ResetData, Salah and partner Marcel Zalloua take over disused buildings with excess energy and take them over. They have created a sustainable cloud – built like an edge mesh – that provides high performance with better latency and closeness to data.
- Gino Tubaro from Argentina. Tubaro is an innovator who specializes in creating prosthetic limbs with 3D printers that are distributed free of charge in over 40 countries through his organization Atomic Lab. He has also developed a real-time dynamic braille translator, a small musical instrument called the Sound Cube, and a 3D printer made from cell phone screens.
“It was stimulating to see the amount of applications received,” says Sbampato. "The quality of entries was exceptional, meaning our Heroes of Progress are truly the best of the best, around the world. These are people who have made real impact through technology, advancing industries, communities and societies in innovative ways. Thanks to these heroes, progress is protected."
More information about the heroes on the website ESET Heroes of Progress.
To find out more about ESET's vision for progress, read on who.
