University of Malta to commercialise high performance imaging solutions
MSV Life facilitates ‘Think before you click’ campaign to protect children online
As part of its corporate social responsibility to help society live a healthier and safer way of life, MSV Life, Malta’s largest life insurer, is supporting Magic Malta in its 20-week awareness campaign, Think before you click.
The campaign, designed to empower parents and carers to guide children to protect themselves against the risks they may encounter on digital and social media platforms, is being held in collaboration with The Office of the Commissioner for Children and the Be Smart Online! project, managed by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).
“As a life insurer, MSV Life feels responsible to support initiatives that empower every member of the community it operates in to make good choices to live a better life, physically, mentally and socially,” said MSV Life’s CEO David G. Curmi. “It is a reality that every one of us, young or not so young, spend a significant time of our day online. While we embrace every development in technology, we are also aware that the digital world and social media pose risks, particularly to those who are most vulnerable, like children. We are honoured to have been approached to support this initiative to raise awareness among parents and carers on how to educate children to protect themselves against dangers they may be unaware of.”
For more information about the campaign and its content, log on thinkbeforeyouclick.eu
For more information about the campaign and its content, log on thinkbeforeyouclick.eu After two successful rounds of research into high performance imaging hardware, the time has come for the Electronic Systems Engineering Department of the University of Malta to prepare some of its technology for the professional market. The products will address the problem of high precision synchronisation that arises between coupled cameras working at thousands, or even millions of frames per second. Such cameras will enable capturing fleeting events from multiple angles.
MEMENTO (Multi Camera high Frame Rate Synchronisation) (www.mementosystems.com) is in fact the University’s first initiative at commercialisation of home-grown electronics technology. This is being undertaken in collaboration with a local technology company - MST Audio Visual Limited (www.mst.com.mt), which has established itself as a leading media-engineering consultancy.
It all started as two Master degree projects that led to several prototypes and intellectual property, allowing the University to secure funding for further development. Detailed commercial feasibility studies gave the green light for the development of a range of cameras that will fill an existing gap in the high-end electronic vision market, laying the ground work for a technology spin-off company.
“Such initiatives demonstrate how students can leverage their studies to build their own business, thereby ensuring that their studies pay off in more ways than one.” says Dr Ing. Marc Anthony Azzopardi, who was himself one of the students and is currently managing the project on behalf of University. The other student, André Micallef, is now managing director of MST Audio Visual Ltd, and is the lead developer on the project. The project grew to involve a total of about 15 people, including a number of summer interns and recent engineering graduates collaboratively working to realise the product.
Applications of this technology include the scientific study of fracture propagation, ink jet droplet formation, combustion wave fronts or high speed impacts which are all ideally observed and analysed from different angles of view for maximum information capture. The technology also has important applications in super-resolution imaging where the effective aperture of a group of cameras working together can be made wider than what is achievable with any single camera.
“Such electronic equipment needs to be easily adaptable for a wide variety of use-cases and this requires careful design using cutting edge technology to stay ahead of an ever-evolving market. For this you need a dynamic team of engineers with complementary skills, but with a shared love of learning and a resolute vision for excellence.” concludes André Micallef.
MEMENTO secured close to €200,000 of funding covering a three year period of intense development, from the Malta Council for Science & Technology through FUSION: The R&I Technology Development Programme 2015.