NICTA wins international award for face recognition technology

Face recognition technology that improves the speed and accuracy of identifying faces in CCTV footage has won NICTA an international ICT award.

The technology from NICTA, an Australian research institute, took home the ICT R&D prize at the Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA) in Pattaya, Thailand.

NICTA says its Face Search Engine improves face recognition in grainy, low-quality video footage. This has the potential to save time in police investigations where CCTV footage is usually reviewed manually.

The facial search engine also triggers automatic watchlist notifications, in real time.

“The Face Search Engine is the product of five years’ research by a committed and dedicated team,” said Professor Brian Lovell, Advanced Surveillance Project Leader at NICTA and University of Queensland Professor.

The APICTA Awards is an international awards program which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community. The program includes 15 participating countries and states across the region.