No one likes a bully. In cooperation with the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society, The World Summit Award for Inclusion and Empowerment goes to Community HUB in Mexico.

Developed on Visionect epaper technology, the Community HUB integrates cognitive computing with an electronic paper touchscreen in a solar-powered kiosk installed in schools, allowing students to report violence anonymously and safely.

According to the American Psychological Association, 40% to 80% of all school-age children will experience abusive behavior from their peers at some point during their school careers.

There's a pattern of extreme violence in Mexican schools. As much as 44% of the country’s students have been victims of violent incidents and 25% reported to have been threatened. That same year the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked Mexico number one when it came to cases of abusive behavior in middle schools.

So this interactive signage project has worldwide relevance, and the UN award signifies that other communities with school bullying have a technology model that can help.

The Community HUB by PARE360 allows students to report violence anonymously and safely, by answering a few simple questions on a robust and easy-to-read Visionect epaper screen.

“Community HUB is, for all intents and purposes, a black box of violence prevention,” explains Alfonso Flores, the founder of PARE360 and the force behind the concept. “The system has been developed from scratch to detect risk factors among youth and develop policies to prevent and combat school violence through reporting and community engagement.”

The report generated by the Community HUB is transmitted in real time to the school director for immediate action, as well as to a mapping software. This allows for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data gathered, assessing the safety of a school and shaping preventative policies, as well as enabling a deeper understanding of a child’s needs and values.

Strengthening the social inclusion of individuals, the reporting and alerting system was hailed as unique “because it mixes psychological factors with technological innovation and community participation that perfectly integrate the protective and predictive factors against crime.”

As electronic paper becomes ever more present in everyday life, Visionect says the Community HUB marks just the beginning of socially-conscious projects that can be made possible by epaper technology, from wayfinding to alert systems and real-time notification screens installable everywhere.

Let's call it "safety signage." Visionect's power-saving technology shows that digital signage isn't always about commercials and branding.

Go UN Award for Anti-Bullying Project with Visionect Signage

Virgin Media celebrates Usain Bolt’s 9.58 second world record with a 9:58pm spectacle on London’s River Thames-- inmcluding a 100m-long, floating flat screen to showcase Bolt’s world-beating 100m time.

Kerris Bright, CMO at Virgin Media says: “Virgin Media has been at the forefront of bringing faster broadband speeds to Britain for the past ten years. By bringing our ambassador, Usain Bolt, to the centre of London we wanted to help celebrate a summer of sport, mark what is going to be a landmark year for Usain and demonstrate what it’s like to ‘be the fastest’.”

Virgin Media’s Vivid 200 broadband offers the UK’s fastest widely available broadband (download speeds of up to 200Mbps) so their association with the world’s fastest man makes perfect sense. They are expanding this through a £3bn programme, Project Lightning, which will reach 17 million UK premises by the end of 2019.

After a Grade 1 tear in his hamstring, Usain Bolt hopes to show fitness at the London Anniversary Games on July 22 to earn selection for the Olympic Games in Rio. To mark exactly one month until he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to defend his world record title, Virgin Media created an ambitious installation bringing symbolizing Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt to the River Thames.

In a celebration of Bolt’s 9.58 second 100m world record, at 9.58pm the river in front of the London Eye was transformed into a 100m-long video screen, while the Eye itself became a giant stopwatch counting down Bolt’s time. Viewers within the London Eye were able to witness Bolt’s record-breaking speed, thanks to a 100m-long, floating screen stationed on the river beneath.

The screen itself is the longest of its kind ever constructed, comprising 108 floating pontoon decks topped by 600m2 of horizontal LED screen. It was built at King George V Dock in Newham, taking more than 1000 man hours to build and four hours to sail to Victoria Embankment.

The 3-minute film centres on the concept of speed and the fastest man of all time, Usain Bolt, ahead of a pivotal season in Bolt’s career. Speed unlocks the difference that Virgin Media provides, and for Bolt, speed defines him. It is voiced over by fellow sprinter, Michael Johnson, who made a documentary with Usain Bolt in 2010.

The film lifts the lid on the real Bolt. It shows the ‘overwhelming rush of hurt’ he describes when talking about his grueling training schedule, the impact his achievements have had on his country and adoring fans, his perceived “superhero” status, and the Jamaican dancehall culture he is still a part of. The film even provides a real-time dramatisation of the historic 9.58 second record breaking run, mimicking the distance and speed he ran it at, across Jamaican locations he grew up at as a boy.

As well as showcasing the six-time champion’s world-beating run, the screen showcased never-seen-before footage of Bolt shot by Virgin Media in his native Jamaica earlier this year before the athlete went into lockdown on his training. The content brings to life the feeling of speed and how Bolt’s career has been shaped by the Caribbean influences which surrounded him growing up. 

Go VirginMedia Boats for Bolt

Go Check out the Virgin Media commercial, “Be the Fastest”, with Usain Bolt

Go OK, We Really Prefer the Nissan Commercial: Bolt vs Fire

Formula 1 Grand Prix Europe took place in June 2016 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Polymedia served as the visualization contractor for Eurodesign, the general contractor for electronic provision (from public address to security systems) at Baku City Circuit.

Formula 1 has become the most exciting international event in Baku city life, and for both of the companies was one of the most challenging and complex projects - that’s why all the audiovisual preparation had begun almost a year ago.

Huge LED screens polyLED were installed in spectator and entertainment areas throughout the entire 6-km route of the race. The total area of all the video panels was more than 500 square meters and the biggest screen reached 45 sqm.

Screens and mounting constructions had been specially designed for the event. Polymedia specialists and engineers were able to comply with all requirements for the project, even the most difficult ones to perform: easy mobile installation, strength, safe design and small installations area at the same time.

Weather conditions such as strong winds and baking sun were the most challenging aspect of the installation. Wind-resistant and anti-vandal screens on the DIP-diodes with a pixel of 10 mm perfectly suited to withstand Baku’s harsh sun. Each screen was connected to the control system, which allowed the operator to track operability of the screens at any time.

“We repeatedly checked all the equipment before the start of the show. All the equipment for the racing electronics, including LED, has been specifically assembled for the test operation on a scale of 1:1. The project was a success largely due to the coordinated work of our professionals, Eurodesign team and also to the detailed preliminary design”, says Elena Novikova, CEO at Polymedia. [Shown in photo with Rufat Mamedov.]

“Polymedia was in charge of a full range of works – manufacturing quality control, supply, installation, commissioning and configuration of audio-visual equipment, and even technical support provision during the event. Nowadays it is difficult to find a company that can perform such a complex AV project. We are pleased that Baku has an audiovisual system integrator of such professional level, and look forward to working on new and interesting projects together. On behalf of our company, I thank the whole team that worked on the "Formula 1" project for the professional work! " comments Rovshan Ahmadov, Technology Director at Eurodesign in Azerbaijan.

Go Eurodesign

Go Polymedia

Score! The International Ice Hockey Federation (the pro hockey sports body) has published annual attendance figures for European hockey leagues during the 2015/2016 season-- and 9 Colosseo venues placed in the ranking. And 4 of them in the top 20.

ColosseoEAS (based in Bratislava, Slovakia) specializes in LED design, multimedia and statistics solutions for sport venues. Their integrated system approach allows stadium and arena owners to input all data from any source into one platform.

Their solution automates tasks, reduces redundant operations and distributes native information to a variety of devices like LED screens, IPTVs, advertising fasciae, mobile applications and even wearable devices. Colosseo combines the latest LED lighting technologies with sports, advertising and stadium entertainment.

For one example of the Colosseo reputation, Brian Ballard (CEO at APX Labs, USA) talked about the Colosseo installation at the Verizon Center in America, “Colosseo is the most feature rich, open, and complete content distribution system we've seen to date. Its deployment at the Verizon Center enabled us to efficiently integrate our Skybox platform for Google Glass with live content and give fans a whole new level of engagement. It really is a professional grade system with fantastic support.”

The Colosseo claim to fame is their status as only company in the world to have implemented four, real-time biometric facial recognition systems to enhance stadium security (Slovnaft Arena in Bratislava, Spis Arena in Slovakia, Krakow Arena in Poland and Petrovsky Stadium in Russia). And the significant point here is how ColosseoEAS recognized early on that security can be intrinsicly linked to digital signage: after all, in most sports defense is equally important to offense.

The most successful Colosseo venue (ranked 4th) is the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg [shown above in photo], a home venue for the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg, equipped with the Colosseo Biometric Face Recognition System and Single Media Platform to cater to an average 11,789 fans per game.

The next Colosseo venue on the IIHF list was O. Nepelu Stadium in Slovak Republic-- Colosseo’s signature venue with an average of 8819 visitors per game (ranked 12th).

The next two Colosseo venues in the rankings are in the Czech Republic – Kometa Brno at DRFG Arena (14th) and Sparta Prague (18th) in O2 Arena, followed by another two teams from Switzerland – Lausanne HC (25th) playing at Espace Malley Arena and Geneve Servette (26th) at Patinoire des Vernets.

The success of the Slovakian team HC Slovan playing at O. Nepela Stadium has helped Colosseo’s reputation just as Colosseo significantly contributes to its safety via a biometric access control system. Their technology increased stadium safety (as well as improving infotainment and fan engagement) and that inspires more fans to attend regularly to support their home club.

It proves the point: in hockey arenas, security is important to everyone who gives a puck.

Go ColosseoEAS