Challenges and Ideas

Design a game you can play with children around the world. It does not matter where they are, how old they are, what language they speak and how they can be reached via the internet. They should play right away with you, understand the rules of the game immediately. They learn more about your culture an dyou will learn more about their culture.

Design a game for children who as refugees came to the Netherlands, helping them to get acquainted with you and your friends, learn the Dutch language and culture so it’s easier for them to find their way and who knows, soon become your friends.

In many countries, the only way to use the internet is to use the mobile phone, not the latest iPhone or Samsung, but just an old-fashioned Nokia. Slow internet, not even enough to watch Youtube videos on their phone which is anyhow is terribly expensive. However, the mobile phone is the only way for people in Africa, South America and South East Asia to connect with the world outside their village. To call the doctor in the big city or to go to school at a distance. The phone and social media are increasingly used to inform the world of abuses in a country, to call on people for demonstrations and to guarantee the proper course of elections. But how could you use the mobile phone in those countries to emphasize the nice things, let children know where to go to school, where to find clean water, or where it’s safe to play?

o you know those older people on the corner of the street? Those grandparents and grandmothers sitting in the park every day, feeding pigeons? Who on a hot day are weeding the flowerbeds in their garden? How would you get in contact with them to help? Doing shopping for those lovely old people in the street? Play a game of chess or checkers with those grandparents in the park? With your boyfriends getting rid of the weeds in the garden of the retirement home?

About  the Voedselbank

In the Netherlands, more than a million people live below the poverty line. The Voedselbank (food bank) helps the poorest temporarily by providing them with food packages. To provide our customers with adequate food, we work with companies, institutions, governments and individuals. In this way, we will ensure that poverty will be limited, food surpluses disappear and the environment waste is reduced. With the motto: “Eye on food, heart for people”.

In order to increase the support to our customers, we work with local organizations that help our customers to become self supporting again. Food aid should always be temporary.

In 2016, with the help of 11.000 volunteers, 38.500 food packages were distributed from 166 local Voedselbanken each week. Approximately 135.000 Dutch people use food from the Voedselbank.

Organisation

Voedselbanken are organized regionally with 10 distribution centres spread over The Netherlands. Some 500 Voedselbanken exists locally from where food is directly distributed to the people.

Each local Voedselbank is an individual foundation with its own board of directors. The Voedselbank Netherlands is hierarchically positioned  above the many local Voedselbanken. The Voedselbank Netherlands has mainly an advisory and coordinating role without much influence or mandate.

Situation

Each distribution centre and Voedselbank The Netherlands has its own suppliers. Some suppliers offer such large batches of food that they are too bulky to deliver exclusively through the present distribution centres. This is due to limited storage or short shelf life (best before of). Redistribution over other distribution centres is necessary. For acceptance of the delivery, it must be clear in advance whether sufficient delivery can be provided to prevent a loss for that distribution centre.

In addition, the reallocation must also clarify how the (chilled) transport must be planned for redistribution. Of course, existing transport lines between the Voedselbanken are used, but this possibility is also strongly limited by  the short shelf life (best before of).

Each Voedselbank has its own and independent food supply and stock keeping system, which (unfortunately) does not communicate with systems of the other Voedselbanken. Thus, mutual communication is about telephone and e-mail, which, in terms of the problem statement, does not provide adequate support and rather increases the organisational chaos.

Problem statement

In brief, the Voedselbanken has a logistic and organizational problem to handle and distribute excess food and food with short lifespan offered by producers or chains of supermarket. De Voedselbank is looking for an efficient and effective way to distribute food among and between the distribution centres and the many local Voedselbanken.

Challenge and scope

Design a communication system used by the distribution centres and the local Voedselbanken for the administration of supply and demand of food with a short shelf life.

Scope will be:

• Narrow to the food supply, total supplied quantity, which distribution centre is supplying and which local Voedselbank demands in what quantity,
• The short shelf life of the food offered, which implies urgency,
• interactive view of the supplies and demands of each offered food at any moment,
• keep it simple (KISS), this means that you only develop the supply / demand part and not a full logistic, inventory and route planning system.

The Pollinators is a platform with focus on biodiversity and pollination. Without pollinators there would be no life. Our agricultural food production strongly depends on these pollinating species. However, the population of pollinators is decreasing.

Together with several other organisations and individuals, The Pollinators create a healthy environment for pollinating species and stimulate recovery of their ecosystem by:

• Organizing events to sow flowers with high nutritional value for pollinators.
• Creating awareness and supplying information how to help pollinators.
• Support and combine new and existing initiatives.
• Giving this serious topic the required attention as to reach a vast audience so initiating appropriate action will be easier.

Our challenge

We already communicate using different channels and co-operate with other initiatives. We would like to move on further and reach many more people so we can take bigger steps towards our goal.

Can an IT-solution support our goal?

Pollinating species cause fertilization of flowering plants by transferring male to female components. We are looking for a IT-solution that acts like a real pollinator. A solution that finds and connects different people and initiatives. How can this platform infect new people with seeds and anther dust to grow an flourish our community?

For presentation purposes you can use our cool corporate identity / design (copyright: The Odd Bunch). Just copy the foto’s and logo’s from our website https://www.thepollinators.org/

A visual SMS chat builder for retailers where they can build scenarios for automated SMS dialogues with potential customers.  If-then logic triggers a specific dialogue branch based on customer’s input. The dialogue allows to refine customer’s preferences via a chain of question-answer SMS messages, and identify the most adequate contact person for this customer/request. The last action in the chain is automated phone call set up between the customer and the assigned contact person (both automatically receive an incoming call and get connected).

A simple example of how the dialogue may look like:

Guru: Welcome to Sweeties, the tailored bakery experience. Please answer a few questions to help us serve you best. Text 1 if ready.

Customer: 1

Guru: Great! What is that you want? Text 1 for cakes, 2 for biscuits, 3 for cookies

Customer: 1

Guru: Oh, delicious! Which flavor? Text 1 (chocolate), 2 (cheese), or 3 (vanilla)?

Customer: 2

Guru: Good choice! What about fillings? Chocolate (1), cream (2), or caramel (3)?

Customer: 3

Guru: Hold the line! Our seasoned cheesecake-with-caramel-filling expert is calling you right now for the last arrangements.

(Customer’s phone rings, they pick up)

Cheesecake-with-caramel-filling sales rep: Hey!