Thales receives 2024 NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has recognized Thales as a model of effective partnership between industry and universities.

The award-winning research done in collaboration with professors Tiago Falk of the Institut National de la recherche Scientifique - INRS and Sébastien Tremblay of Université Laval, as well as the École nationale de police du Québec and the Centre de recherche et d’innovation en sécurité civile du Québec, focused on the development of technologies to enhance the training of police forcesand foster safer and more efficient operations.

As part of the Thales TrUE AI (Transparent, Understandable, and Ethical AI) approach, the solution was applied during training to monitor the cognitive and physiological status of front-line respondersin critical situations where people’s lives are at stake, such as in police operations. Data was collected in real-time and tested on operators to optimize the training strategy based on the following indicators:

•  mental state
•  physical and mental fatigue
•  stress 
•  physical activity

Components developed from the research are being deployed for use by organizations including 
the Canadian Space Agency, the RCMP, and Public Safety, ensuring the security of Canadians.

NSERC honored Thales and its partners at a ceremony held in Ottawa on November 6. 

“Thanks to the excellent collaboration with professors Falk and Tremblay, Thales ha been able to boost its industrial roadmap in trusted AI, which puts humans in control of critical decisions. We are honored to be a partner of choice and fortunate to have such a strong academic ecosystem in Canada, to help deliver solutions to the most complex challenges faced by those that protect us.” Chris Pogue, CEO, Thales Canada.