DHL celebrates outstanding inventions with Innovation Awards

German logistics giants DHL celebrated a number of outstanding inventions in the fifth annual DHL Innovation Awards this week, which celebrated scientists, entrepreneurs, customers and employees related to the firm.

Hosted by the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Bill Meahl, the awards ceremony awarded Volvo for the most innovative customer solution,  DHL employee Harald Lemke as the most innovative employee, and members of the Ruhr University Bochrum, the Technical University of Denmark and French company Orange Labs for jointly developing the crypto algorithm PRESENT.

The awards ceremony, formed part of DHL’s Innovation Day, which invites experts from the worlds of science, industry and media discuss current logistics trends and topics around the use of ’big data’ and cloud computing.

Meahl introduced the ceremony and DHL’s coming Innovation Day with the following speech:

“In this year’s event we aim to present you with some of our current thinking and solutions but also to give you a glimpse at what is out there, and is potentially game-changing going forward, that might be the next big thing. There are trends and innovations that still have the power to fundamentally change the way we assume and transport that are not too long term… With these awards, with DHL, what we’re trying to do is view, select and honour a number of forward-looking innovations and innovators that have particularly impressed us”

Improved CO2 efficiency

Volvo received the award as most innovative customer for a project called Maintenance on Demand (MoDe). It brought together 11 companies and institutions from all over Europe and focused on developing a commercially viable truck that identifies where and when maintenance is required. Thus, instead of today’s common ’just-in-case’ set-up, just-in-time deliveries of spare parts are feasible. The implementation of MoDe benefits customers as they can decrease their logistics costs, reduce the risk of breakdowns and improve their CO2 efficiency.

Deutsche Post’s Harald Lemke was honored as the most innovative employee. He pressed ahead with DocWallet, an app for mobile devices that ensures document security by fully encrypting files. The application was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Research Institute for Applied and Integrated Security. The patented invention went live at the end of 2012.

Award for algorithm

In the category most innovative scientist / entrepreneur, the team of Prof. Gregor Leander, Prof. Dr. Christof Paar and Dr. Axel Poschmann was awarded for developing the algorithm PRESENT, which is a secure and energy efficient cipher tailored for RFID tags. It is one of the best-analyzed hardware-optimized cipher available and is considered to be absolute secure for at least two decades. PRESENT was accredited by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and will be implemented in the fields of logistics, medical engineering and vehicle manufacturing.

"The drive for innovation and finding solutions for today’s problems is a key element to overcome obstacles and establishing future growth,

"As a global player we’re committed to finding innovative logistics solutions and are delighted to discuss trends and ideas together with our customers, employees and external partners," Meahl continued.