Smarter border control

Machines that interpret X-rays and solutions that combine different technologies will support the customs in the future border control. At least if the IT nerds in AIA Science can decide. Photo: Tolletaten.no

Wants to combine different technologies for smarter border control

On Wednesday October 25, 20 researchers and IT people competed on who could provide the best solution on how the future border control can be.

 

Newly started Norwegian IT company has the best proposal

The winner, in competition with technicians and researchers from home and abroad, is a team from AIA Science. The winning team consisting of Evmorfia Andritsopoulou, Atle Vesterkjær and Peter Malec, according to the jury, had a very clear and forward-looking proposal with real possibilities of implementation for Norwegian Customs.

AIA is a newly established Norwegian IT company with heavy technical expertise. They have expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.

– We think it’s very inspiring to work with the Customs office, and we have several ideas on how the agency can automate parts of the business, says Atle Vesterkjær, CTO in AIA Science and one of the participants from the winning team.

He thinks they won because the team had a comprehensive plan to get more information out of data the customs authorities already possess.

– We showed that we had the competence to implement it by describing the technological tools we would like to use to implement our plans. We had good references to research pointing in the same direction as our proposal.

It was Minister of Finance, Siv Jensen, who awarded the prize of NOK 28,000 to the winning team.

Happy Director of IT

IT Director Jan Erik Ressem is very pleased with both the competition and the winners.

– We have already launched several strategic projects in smart data analysis and digital intelligence that can make more of today’s ideas possible. The solutions presented today can be utilized before anyone realizes it, he says.

– Especially exciting it was to watch the differences in approach, from the very practical to hyper-technology. We have learned a lot about both possibilities and limitations, says Ressem.

Testing innovative methods

The Customs Office is interested in the opportunities offered by technology. Not in the least because the agency thinks it’s exciting to explore how to identify the right objects to be checked at the border.

– Med et Science hackathon tester vi også ut utradisjonelle og innovative måter å jobbe på. Vi undersøker konkret hvordan bruk av kunstig intelligens kan hjelpe tollerne til å kontrollere mest mulig målrettet. Vi tror dette er verktøy som både kan gi oss bedre resultater og smartere bruk av skattepengene, sier tolldirektør Øystein Børmer.

A world first

The Customs Office is the first public agency in the world to carry out such a science hackathon. It is welcomed to the Minister of Finance.

– I would like to congratulate the Customs Office, which is the first public agency in the world to arrange a science hackathon. I am very pleased to be here today to present the prize to the winning team, says Minister of Finance Siv Jensen.

She emphasizes the importance of using new technology to make the Customs Office better able to utilize the enormous data sets available in an ever-increasing commodity flow across the borders.

– I strongly believe that the Custom Office controls will be more accurate by using advanced tools for analysis and artificial intelligence in addition to their own assessments. This will also allow automation of resource-intensive manual processes and freeing resources for tasks where we really require human efforts, says the Minister of Finance.

 

©  Tolletaten / Norway Today