The Australian Financial Review and BOSS magazine Most Innovative Companies Awards recognise companies pushing the boundaries, and surpassing goals.
The prestigious annual awards, is based on a rigorous assessment process in conjunction with a panel of industry expert judges. The assessment measures a project implemented in the past twelve months which has a significant impact on an industry or brand. The awards also assess internal elements such as culture, strategy, resources and process, which demonstrate a sustainable and repeatable approach to innovation.
AKQA’s work recognised for this award is the result of research and development teams creating an application to help save lives at sea for the Coastguard New Zealand. Using machine learning technology, AKQA created a predictive search and rescue operations platform and a trip reporting app resulting in more efficient rescue management and more lives saved.
“At AKQA we believe in the power of creativity and innovation as the primary source of differentiation for brands and business. Delivering that, requires a culture that embraces diverse talent, room to explore, an environment that fosters collaboration, and the discipline to get a return from it” - Brian Vella, AKQA Managing Partner, Asia Pacific.
With over 250,000 trips logged, and 3037 boat rescues each year, the team leveraged AI and data visualisation to develop a custom purpose trip reporting interface, created specifically to assist the marine rescue operation centre. The trip reporting system has been designed and built as a 100% uptime cloud based platform standard using progressive web app technology to ensure constant connectivity and accessibility.
Both AKQA and Coastguard are proud to see the results of the project come to life and really make an impact on saving lives in New Zealand. The application now has had over 13,000 downloads since its launch it is estimated that this innovation is likely to positively impact 500,000 - 750,000 New Zealand boaties in the year ahead.
To learn more about the winning work, please visit our work section.