Technology transfer: From Mobile World Capital to Puertos del Estado

• llRead, a startup created in the innovation program “The Collider” of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, is awarded by Puertos del Estado for its software to streamline the traceability of rail transported goods. 
• The project selected by the Ports 4.0 fund committee was launched on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. AllRead’s solution, based on Deep Learning, will be developed and tested in several ports and port terminals in Spain.

18 March, 2022

Mobile World Capital Barcelona hosted this week the launch event of the project selected by Puertos del Estado “Disruption of Port OCR”. The project belongs to AllRead, the Catalan Artificial Intelligence technology startup born in the Computer Vision Center of Catalonia of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and The Collider, the tech transfer program that brings to the market scientific research results in order to solve in the industry and society. 

The meeting was attended by Oscar Sala, Director of The Collider; José Llorca, Head of Innovation of Puertos del Estado, and representatives of the ports and terminals that have supported the proposal, such as the Port of Barcelona, Port of Algeciras, Terminal Marítima de Zaragoza Services, APM Terminals Spanish Gateways and Hutchison Ports BEST.

Oscar Sala, Director of The Collider, highlighted how AllRead is proof that “we reduce the gap between science and the needs of the market by creating technology startups that solve real problems. We understand the challenges, identify market needs and, from there, we build innovative solutions with an impact on society and industry, as in this case, for the port industry.”

José Llorca, Head of Innovation at Puertos del Estado stated that “with the creation of Ports 4.0 and the funding of projects such as AllRead, our goal is to make ports and port communities aware of the importance of digitization and adopting technologies that streamline their operations.”

The aim of the project is, according to AllRead’s COO, Adriaan Landman, “to build on our technological innovation to “democratize traceability solutions in rail freight transport, and improve the competitiveness of the port logistics sector”.

Artificial intelligence can reduce dependence on infrastructure

Up to 90% of the world’s trade is transported by sea and uses ports as the main contact point. Goods, vehicles and wagons moving through ports are identified by means of “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR) systems. 

During the meeting, the importance of the technological disruption that AllRead represents with respect to these systems was highlighted. According to Marçal Rossinyol, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-Founder of AllRead, “traditional OCR systems require large investments, infrastructures, controlled environments, and large physical spaces to be installed, which leaves out most of the ports and terminals worldwide that do not have the necessary funding. With AllRead, we want to digitize and streamline freight traffic to enable ports and terminals to reduce costs and their carbon footprint.”

For Adriaan Landman, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Co-Founder of AllRead, “AllRead’s vision that convinced the various project participants is that by bringing out the full potential of our innovative reading technology, it frees itself from hardware dependency.”

It is a computer vision software solution that uses artificial neural networks. The system created is capable of detecting and reading in real-time, the texts, codes or symbols of vehicles and containers using any of the existing cameras at the port. Such readings can be from any image or video even in complex environments with rain, low illumination or high-speed movement. In this way, it is possible to fully monitor the supply chain without the high costs of acquisition, implementation or maintenance (up to 80% less), offering higher accuracy and much shorter processing time.

High economic impact and sustainability throughout the supply chain

This innovation implies a significant reduction of delays and transit times by up to 25%, and significant savings in economic costs (up to 80M€ calculated per year) which, thanks to the implementation of advanced technologies for traceability, will improve the efficiency of operations and reduce bottlenecks, regardless of the size or volume of operations in the ports.

In addition, it will improve environmental sustainability by reducing emissions by up to 220,000 tons of CO2 and contributing to the commitment to rail transport (which is 6 times less polluting than the road), and streamlining the exit, entry and circulation of vehicles and goods.

In the words of Miguel Silva-Constenla, CEO of AllRead: “This is an important challenge that will have a major impact on the supply chain and the movement of goods. Thinking about the multiple logistics nodes through which goods circulate throughout the entire journey, the beneficiaries are innumerable.”

Ports 4.0 fund invests in innovation

The Ports 4.0 capital fund is the open innovation model of Puertos del Estado and the Spanish Port Authorities to attract and support disruptive projects from startups and technology spin-offs such as AllRead to facilitate their application in the Spanish port-logistics sector. At the project kick-off meeting with AllRead, the different challenges the ports and terminals face and how they will work together were also discussed.

The project, which starts in April and has an initial duration of 18 months, aims to continue innovating and developing AllRead’s vision technology and software to make it an even more robust and accurate solution, multiplatform, plug and play which is easily adaptable in any port or terminal. All without the need for infrastructure beyond a fixed camera or a cell phone in order to transfer the economic and sustainability benefits to the whole Spanish port ecosystem.

About Mobile World Capital

Mobile World Capital Barcelona is an initiative driving the digital advancement of society while helping improve people’s lives globally.

With the support of the public and private sector, MWCapital focuses on four areas: the acceleration of innovation through digital entrepreneurship, the transformation of industries through digital technology, the rise of digital talent among new generations and professionals and the reflection on the impact of technology in our society. Collectively, our programs are positively transforming the economy, education and society.

MWCapital hosts MWC in Barcelona and founded 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the startup business platform, present at MWC events around the world.

About The Collider

The Collider, an innovation program of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, bridges the gap between science and market to create disruptive technology-based startups. To make  it possible, the program fosters an entrepreneurial attitude in universities and uses the  researcher – entrepreneur formula to create new high-value companies.

The programme focuses on the identification and business development of highly disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain and Virtual Reality,  by connecting scientific and entrepreneurial talent.

The Collider encourages the participation of corporations to launch pilots in the early stages and open new lines of business helping to increase competitiveness.