We are extremely proud to announce that two projects designed by our academics won major awards at the 13th International Fair and Competition INTARG® 2020 Online – Social Innovations. SWPS University’s project “RESQL – Lepszy Klimat Szkoły” (RESQL – Better Atmosphere at School) was awarded the “Pro Societas Bono” Grand Prix and the Diamond Award for a solution of an exceptional social significance. The international jury has also recognized the “Jasnopis” app, co-developed by scientists from SWPS University and the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), with the World Invention Intellectual Property Associations (WIIPA) award and a INTARG® Gold Medal.
SWPS University Working for the Common Good
“Social Innovations Serving the Common Good” was the main theme of this year’s INTARG® competition. SWPS University’s mission to effect social change through applied research is aligned with this idea and our researchers have been working to improve the quality of life for many years.
SWPS University engages in projects that benefit not only the society, but also help business organizations. The goal of these initiatives is to creatively solve social problems in communities and organizations at the local, regional, national, and international level. These problems may include climate and demographic changes, protection of health and life, meeting human needs, and ensuring safety in different life situations, such as crises. The awards that we received for the RESQL application, which helps to prevent peer violence in schools, and Jasnopis, which facilitates clear and concise writing, are a confirmation that we are going in the right direction.
“We knew that what we’d created was useful, interesting, important, and unique. But would the program meet the needs? Would other people like it? – This nobody knew. Therefore, we submitted our projects for the International Fair and Competition INTARG® with a dose of caution. It is a huge event, over 200 innovations... We quietly dreamed of being at least noticed, but it transpired that we won the Grand Prix. We are very grateful. We won’t disappoint.”
Piotr Ciszek, Center for Knowledge Transfer, member of the RESQL research team
RESQL – Preventing Violence in Schools
As much as 57 percent of students, age 11 to 17, experience peer violence, which impacts their self-esteem, undermines confidence, increases anxiety and causes negative mood. A team of psychologists and educators from SWPS University, led by Małgorzaty Wójcik, Ph.D and Radosław Kaczan, Ph.D., developed a program for the prevention of violence, which is linked with a special app that allows children to safely and effectively take preventive steps, when they see signs of aggression among their peers.
Based on research results, conversations and workshops with teachers, students, and parents, our academics prepared lesson scripts on topics such as group conflict resolution or taking steps to prevent aggression. However, the most unique features of the program include a mobile app for students, a teachers’ panel where students’ reports of potential incidents are recorded and analyzed, and a headmasters’ panel that facilitates monitoring of violence at school, running reports, and analyzing diagnosed problems during teachers’ council meetings.
More information about the RESQL project »
Jasnopis – Writing with Clarity
Jasnopis is an application developed in cooperation between SWPS University and the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). The tool helps people to write clearly and concisely. The development of the tool was led by Professor Włodzimierz Gruszczyński, expert in linguistics, who worked at our Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Warsaw for many years. Thanks to special algorithms, the application evaluates the clarity of texts, highlights complicated fragments, and proposes amendments aligned with the needs of addressee groups. Jasnopis allows not only to assess readability of texts, but it also helps to simplify texts of many documents, such as agreements, regulations, public administration letters, product instructions, and even simple notes.
The algorithm may be adjusted to meet the requirements of individual users or specific industries, for example the public administration, bank and financial sector, pharma industry, or telecom companies. The tool has been designed to address the needs of specific users and ensure that data security and confidentiality is maintained. Jasnopis may also be used as a plug-in for different text editors.
Jasnopis is the first commercialized research project in the area of linguistics in Poland.
More information about Jasnopis »
INTARG® Competition
The goal of the 13th International Fair and Competition INTARG® 2020 Online – Social Innovations is to present and promote innovations that help to solve social problems. The idea behind the event is to facilitate transfer of social innovations to communities and businesses, and to provide an opportunity for networking and establishing cooperation between the academia, public administration, non-governmental organizations, and business.
Due to the pandemic, this year’s edition was organized online. The new format of the Fair provided a great opportunity for presenting and promoting the submitted innovations internationally. Over 200 innovations from around the world were presented during the event.
The Award Gala took place on November 10, 2020. The submitted innovations, were judged by an international jury on the level of innovation, social and economic impact, the level of advancement, social needs, a potential for implementation nationally and internationally, the type of intellectual property rights, and a presentation of the project.
More information about INTARG® »