Recognition Award for IT4BI

The French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) has awarded an ongoing IT4BI Master Thesis Project with the prize "Prix spécial du jury" in the context of the competition "Boost Your Code 2015".

The award was given for ElectioVis, an open source decision-aiding software tool that I started to develop as part of the IT4BI Decision Support and BI specialisation I am pursuing at École Centrale Paris. The project profits from the academic advisory of Prof. Valentina Ferretti, an expert in the decision-making field who lectures at École Centrale Paris and Polytechnic University of Turin.

ElectioVis is a website that aims to bring the power of decision-making closer to all citizens of the world, overcoming economic, social, cognitive and language barriers. It will be available online during June 2015 and everyone will be able to try it for free.

The application integrates multiple Multi-Criteria Aiding methods such as Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and allows the decision maker to choose the most suitable according to the particularities of each context. This feature, in conjunction with the efforts to make the solution user-friendly and highly interactive, distinguishes ElectioVis from other solutions available both in the open source world and in the commercial market.

"Boost Your Code" started in 2011 and its 5th edition has been now held. This contest aims to support scientifically challenging open source software projects that are, at the same time, aligned with the needs of society. Every year, students and recent graduates can submit their projects for consideration, which are then analysed by a jury of scientists and professionals. This edition counted on the feedback of a jury made up by 12 members. Their profiles may be seen here (in French).

During the initial application review, the four best projects are chosen as finalists and their sponsors are invited to audition in Paris. During these auditions, candidates are requested to present their projects with a multi-disciplinary audience in mind. After the presentation, the members of the jury have time to ask questions and, afterwards, deliberations are held.

Finally, the winners are announced and INRIA offers them a one-year contract to continue the development of their software solution. Normally, there is only one prize per year but, this year, the jury decided to grant two prizes: "Lauréat" and "Prix spécial du jury".

I got the "Prix spécial du jury" and, as a result, I will be joining INRIA for one year so as to continue the development of ElectioVis and prepare for the future growth of my IT startup "Idées du Sud SASU". I will keep you posted of the advancements of this project.

You can read more about "Boost Your Code" 2015's prizes at INRIA website (in French).

Prizes will be delivered in Paris on June 13, as part of the Information Technology festival Futur en Seine 2015. The ceremony will held be at 2:00 pm at the venue of the "Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers" (292 Rue Saint-Martin).

Merci beaucoup INRIA !