In the scope of its innovation policy and connection to the national entrepreneur ecosystem, CTT – Correios de Portugal presented the D|Code Challenge, a technology challenge to startups, companies and programmers through TAIKAI, an open innovation platform that helps innovation organizations.

Post it was the winning company. It developed a solution to interpret, in different illumination conditions and in less than 3 seconds, all information regarding a letter’s fluorescent indicator, only with a smartphone and with no need for internet access or external processing. Apart from the 8.000€ award, the group of programmers will see its app implemented in the national mail service. The initiative had 80 participants.

Aware of the importance of digital transformation, CTT presented this challenge to look for a technology solution that could support the mail sorting. This challenge was based on the development of a mobile app to read the code printed on letters by the sorting machines. All made through the smartphone camera or through another mobile device. The app should be able to identify and show all information available at the item’s code, and enabling the postal network quality of service control.

The winning solution combines image sorting algorithms, barcode’s processing, errors’ correction and recorded data decoding. It uses open-source transversal language, and is therefore suitable for both Android or iOS systems.

CTT supports corporate innovation processes and encourages participation, while evolving a step further in its operations’ digital transformation and reinforcing proximity with the national startup ecosystem.

CTT is closely related with the startups’ ecosystem through the CTT 1520 Startup Program. Since its creation, it has already identified 1700 startups, and has 30 projects in course: 14 commercial partnerships, 15 in co-creation projects and one that resulted in the purchase of the Recibos Online startup. Regarding the co-creation projects, CTT has recently presented the Criar Lojas Online (Create online stores) service, with Shopkit. Urban Dynamic Delivery is CTT’s technology partner in the offer of the Same-day express service, Robosavvy helped in the operations’ robotization with small autonomous vehicles supporting sorting machines, and Mater Dynamics enabled CTT to present the first philatelic issue based on an NFC and LED technology.

The interaction program with startups intends to open CTT’s doors to this whole new ecosystem by looking for projects that fit in areas where CTT acts, boosting continuous collaboration areas and offering eventual advantages to startups. As for CTT, this initiative boosts its knowledge of this startups’ national ecosystem by promoting a bilateral continuous communication.