Corporate Challenge 2020

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

A machine learning project cannot begin until the dataset exists. The biggest problem facing artificial intelligence technology today is the lack of data. Full-stack AI companies offer solutions for data labeling, model development, and building apps, but you are mostly required to provide your own data. This can be difficult consider the size and variation required for a proper dataset. Furthermore, depending on the application, in-wild datasets are not naturally optimal for other specific domains, and could benefit from pre-processing.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation is to design a software solution to develop and deliver custom datasets of domain-specific unstructured data. The software should:

• Provide a type of verification to ensure the data is clean
• Deliver analytics to describe each dataset
• Maintain a massive organized database of all data acquired throughout
• Work directly with data engineers to meet custom data requirements
• Provide labels (e.g box annotations) with the data acquired if required by customer
• Potentially result in a full-stack AI solution that includes data acquisition

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Web scraping technology in combination with human labor, should perpetually collect data of interest
• Mobile and web technology should creatively crowdsource various data
• Generative artificial intelligence should synthesize various data. See for example PizzaGAN http:// pizzagan.csail.mit.edu
• Data processing and data augmentation technology should assist in domain adaptation

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Haier Group, a global leading provider of better-life solutions, is transitioning from a traditional home appliance maker to a smart home solutions provider. To improve user experience in intelligence and interactive, we need better data collection, data analysis and swift data-driven commands.

Data collection is the first step and is critical for the intelligence of individual home appliance and holistic smart home solutions. With the advances in sensor technology, microelectronics and edge computing, more sensors are miniaturized and cost-down, which move the applications from lab and academic to industry, and from niche market like aerospace and hospitals to widespan consumer market.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to find the partners who can provide any one or multiple sensing solutions to be integrated with home appliances, creating brand-new user experience and/or for fulfilling the applications as below.

• Food freshness (meat, fish, vegetables, fruits), for example, tell users the optimal date and expire date to be kept in the fridge through real-time analysis of key food quality attributes. Considering low cost NIR, hyperspectral imaging, chemometric sensors, gas sensor, e-nose, etc.
• Smart cooking, for example, fusion of odor sensor and computer vision to enable the auto cooking.
• Contactless temperature and humidity measurement, which could be used for enclosed compartment of appliances such as washing machine, dryer, oven, steamer, etc.
• Detecting the bacteria and viruses in the air, water and/or food borne

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

•We are looking for sensing solution which generates insights from a matrix of data measurement. The qualitative or quantitative insights shall be easy to understand for smart home users. Only physical data measurement is not interested.
• Sensors shall be compact and cost effective to be integrated with the home appliances.
• Lifetime is at least 3 years, and ideally 5 years or more.
• Non-destructive, contactless and calibration free.
• Low power consumption, and wireless charging is a bonus point to enable the flexibility of integration.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

How might we enable seamless content flow between multiple countries in APAC to support the exponential content needs of building Direct to consumer selling channels for premium skin health brands?

DESIRED SOLUTION

Direct to consumer selling channels are becoming more important to our business due to the COVID impact and the acceleration of online buying. J&J has also made strategic shifts to focus on premium brands with large cash outlays and multiple products in basket, which require a different consumer experience, that incorporates things like guided selling, organic engagement, and CRM push.

Currently, we have each market doing these activities on their own, which tends to make the total experience expensive and suboptimal. It also holds us back from moving into more automation across markets which can create broken journeys for consumers and keep the brand dependent on staff judgement every time a new activity is launched.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

User language should include most APAC languages. Must work in China and Japan. Ideally can be integrated with Google Marketing Platform and Salesforce Stack.

In China we have a CDP with CONNEXT – would be great to have an option to tie back with a CDP.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

There are numerous reasons why we struggle with our data. Rolls-Royce has been collecting data since the 1930’s and the format of data has evolved massively over the last 90 years. We face strict compliance and audit requirements, alongside numerous security classification and export control laws which regulate how we manage our data. We also often find our data is unstructured, and therefore there is a large time burden associated in trying to break out of this data silo.

It is estimated that our employees spend roughly a third of their time searching for the data they need to do their roles. This impacts all employees across our organisation and is a common source of frustration that stops talented individuals doing their jobs and therefore reduces innovation and collaboration opportunities.

We would welcome novel methods of dealing with and making best use of our data.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Cargill is a large, diverse family of companies operating in 70 countries, with 155,000 employees worldwide.

Currently, COVID-19 social distancing and contact tracing measures on employees, contractors and visitors are done manually, which consume a lot of time and resources. In most cases for contact tracing, we need to partner with public health authorities. Most contact tracing and social distancing solutions in the market require some form of connectivity and limits to very small area.

In some of our operating areas such as palm plantations, involve vast area with very remote and poor mobile coverage where existing solutions are not feasible. The availability of company-issued phones is limited and some may not own a smart phone.

DESIRED SOLUTION

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cargill businesses need a reliable, secure, digital means to ensure personal safety that sends social distancing alerts and enables contact tracing without collecting personally identifiable information.

• Needs to work across Cargill businesses worldwide
• Cannot add an additional wearable to what employees, contractors or visitors already need to carry in a facility
• Low cost in terms of hardware infrastructure/device requirements
• Effective and sustainable solution in terms of not requiring too much human intervention while being able to provide alerts to the right person

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Solution needs to be workable without continuous connectivity, e.g. only send data intermittently when mobile/WiFi coverage is restored

• Able to alert the user if safe distance is breached
• Wearable device not acceptable
• Accuracy of distancing +/- 0.2m
• Cargill has very strict data privacy requirements and regulations on personal data both for employee information and corporate information therefore successful solution will need to comply with these. There are restrictions on what can be collected, what can be stored and for how long
• Multi language capability
• Ability to customize, e.g. to differing social distancing regulations in differing jurisdictions

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Business to Business (B2B) customers progressively expect the same standards of services and products as they would in their personal transactions.

Every day there are very many personal interactions across departments with different customers. In addition, customers interact directly with our products and services on many levels.

While the customer experience (CX) has traditionally been a core focus for B2C companies, tracking CX is becoming increasingly important in B2B. In recent years, the development of AI also presents us with new opportunities to apply predictive analytics and other tools to CX data.

DESIRED SOLUTION

A ‘real-time’ CX tracker backed by AI The ability to extract and summarize (in real-time) scores based on selected CX KPIs for various points of our customer journey

The ability to provide a comparison to historical results for each customer The ability to learn by using signals to predict CX scores and surface emerging trends and issues.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

User language should be in English and Chinese at a minimum.

Provide a seamless interface between mobile versions and computer versions Software must work in China CX tracker should leverage structured and unstructured data Post-implementation maintenance of the CX tracker should be user-friendly within reason or ongoing support made available

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

J&J’s portfolio of brands provide solutions that help doctors, patients, and their carers in the prevention, early interception, and treatment of oftentimes preventable or controllable health issues, like myopia in children, photodamage and consequent skin health issues, and poor sleep quality. In these cases, lifestyle modification can play a critical role in keeping the conditions in control or slowing down progression, and can drive higher treatment compliance for improved patient outcomes. The following areas are of particular interest for cognitive behavioural tracking and modification in Asia:

1. Myopia management in Children. Myopia will impact 50% of the globe by 2050. The incidence is highest in the Asia Pacific region at 83-97% of 18 years and younger with the condition. Its onset and progression happens mainly during childhood. A spectacle power of -6.00 diopters (600 degrees) or more is known as high myopia and is known to cause long-term vision impairment or blindness in latter years. While lifestyle modification plays a key role in controlling its onset and progression, there are no child- friendly tools to help doctors, children and carers track near work and outdoor time, two of the key lifestyle factors to control myopia, and incentivize behaviour change.

2. Better Sleep Quality for Babies. Sleep has a major impact on health, well-being, and normal neurological functioning and maturation across age groups. Poor sleep quality is also implicated as a factor in variety of systemic heath issues, and poor development among babies and children. In babies in particular, 50% of infants in Asia have problems with sleep quality. Mom’s compliance to expert-recommended sleep routines is a challenge given lack of consistent guidance and reminder to aid in habit formation, and baby sleep quality feedback to assist in required ritual changes or further interventions.

3. Photodamage prevention. Nearly 80% of skin ageing is attributable to photodamage due to excessive sun exposure. If unaddressed, cumulative photodamage can lead to more serious skin conditions, including skin cancer. Doctors recommend daily use of sun protection, including topical sunscreens, to significantly reduce sun exposure. However, usage incidence is still low in most Asian markets with only 16% of Chinese consumers using sunscreens regularly, for example. Compliance to daily usage and prescribed dosages could be even lower than that, given the lack of real-time feedback to consistently remind consumers to use sun protection and build a sustainable habit change.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to develop an easy to use, economical, and consumer-friendly cognitive-behavioral tracking and modification solution or system that can address part or all of the following use cases:


- Myopia management in children

• Measure near work time(<30-40cmsforeyes)spent by a child everyday. Children who spend
• Measure outdoor time (sunlight exposure > 10,000 lux candles) spent by children every day. Differentiate between indoor and outdoor light intensity (indoor is generally 300-500 lux or 2.5 hours outdoors and eyes focused on far field visions are known to have slow progression of myopia or later onset for those who do not have it.

• Affordable and easy to use software or hardware or a combination of both, that is 
easy to use with or without existing consumer devices.
• Can be non-digital or 
mechanical. Accurate and reliable, and supported by sound clinical and medical science 

• Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual tracking that can be used by the patient, carer or 
doctors to monitor target lifestyle attributes 

• Motivations and incentives built-in to drive sustainable behaviour change. Ideally 
supported by an ecosystem of incentive providers to motivate required lifestyle 
changes (i.e. more outdoor play for children with myopia) 

• Track and report target health conditions (i.e. eye health, sleep quality skin health) 

• Engaging and motivating social functionalities built in (i.e. competition with friends, Data infrastructure that allow data to be analyzed for generating aggregated real- world data/evidence to aid in personalized care

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The solution must be affordable for key Asian market to purchase, OR cost-feasible to be integrated into J&J’s commercial programs. For device solutions:

• Small, portable, light-weight and ideally suitable for one-handed use o robust for intended consumer use (e.g. at home, school and outdoors and can differentiate analogue and digital near work for myopia tracker, rugged and baby-friendly for sleep monitor, etc ) and considers human factors key to ease of use and compliance. 
• Replaceable battery (if any) 
• Meets all regulatory mandated safety requirements
• Complies to all applicable regulations and J&J privacy and quality and compliance policies

Development timeline: 12-24 months (proof of concept)

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

J&J’s portfolio of Consumer Health brands provide solutions that help consumers (and doctors) in the prevention, early interception, and treatment of common health issues. These solutions are clinically proven to provide improved health outcomes. However, consumer adoption remains a challenge due in part to their lack of awareness of these common health issues. Simple and easy to use consumer diagnostics solutions can help empower them to detect and even visualize the early signs or presence of these health issues, and help them move towards an effective prevention and/or treatment strategy.

The following consumer health areas are of particular interest in Asia:

1. Recovery from Dehydration. Dehydration is a common consequence from diarrhoea, fever and heat exhaustion, with children being the most vulnerable. The first line HCP- prescribed treatment is oral rehydration solution. However, many parents for example, cannot determine if their children are consuming sufficient amount of fluid to ensure effective recovery.
2. Better Oral Health. It is clinically well-established that rinsing with an anti-microbial mouthwash as part of a daily oral hygiene can significantly improve oral health. But consumers are unaware of the benefits of using a mouthwash because they cannot visualize the problems (e.g. bacteria build-up, gum inflammation, loss of tooth minerals) before it’s too late (e.g. cavity, gingivitis, and serious oral health conditions.
3. Better Skin Hydration and Barrier. A well hydrated skin is the foundation of a strong skin barrier, which in turn minimizes risk of more serious conditions like atopic dermatitis. However, a significant proportion of consumers still report chronically dry skin when it is already too late (itching, flaking, cracking, redness etc). Also, 60% of babies show some degree of skin dryness but only 10% of mothers perceive it, because early signs like micro-flaking is difficult to see. Consistent use of moisturizers is key to prevention or early management of skin dryness.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to develop non-invasive, easy to use, and economical consumer diagnostic solutions that can detect, visualize and/or monitor the improvement in health conditions for part or all of the following use cases:

• Level of physiological hydration (or dehydration) for children, but potentially for adults and elderly as well
• Reliable determination of oral health problems, for example measuring bacterial build-up in the mouth without the use of laboratory or dental office equipment , bad breath pre- and post-rinsing with mouthwash
• Skin hydration measurement solution that allow for quick detection and consumer visualization of early signs of dryness in babies and adults

• Non-invasive
• Affordable and easy to use software or hardware or a combination of both, that is easy to use with or without existing consumer devices
• Accurate and reliable, and supported by sound clinical and medical science
• Intuitive user interface that visualizes condition being measured, and shows trends as part of continuous observations or treatment, without extensive consumer input or oversight
• Fast measurements
• If possible, convert any gross or underlying physiological measurements to a consumer intuitive scale to ‘gamify’ the diagnostic experience

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The solution must be affordable for key Asian market consumers (China, India, Philippines) to purchase, OR cost-feasible to be integrated into J&J’s commercial programs.

For device solutions:

• small, portable, light-weight and ideally suitable for one-handed use
• robust for intended consumer use (e.g. appropriate water resistance rating for oral care solution, rugged for baby use etc)
• replaceable battery (if any)
• meets all regulatory mandated safety requirements Complies to all applicable regulations and J&J privacy and quality and compliance policies

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Foreign workers in Singapore today go for medical screenings periodically to determine if they are fit for employment (e.g urine tests for drugs/pregnancy, x-rays for tuberculosis). However, patient misidentification and inaccurate personal health data collection are common issues across screening clinics and is attributable to some of the following reasons:

• Language barriers between clinic staff and foreign workers; non-native language proficiency of workers may also be limited • Medical attendants in small clinics may be overwhelmed at times as they cater to high patient volumes
• Medical attendants mispronouncing foreign worker names (who may also have similar sounding names e.g Sami & Samy) Patient misidentification leads to further consequences such as:
  • Patients with non-communicable diseases (e.g. COVID) being misdiagnosed as healthy, and allowed to mingle with society
  • Patients receiving the wrong diagnosis, resulting in inability to receive their work permit The above issue is part of a larger societal problem – the neglect of foreign workers’ healthcare, leading to their exploitation.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to design an application/solution that can:

• Accurately identify foreign workers who visit screening clinics
• Suggest changes to scheduled appointment times to help inbound patients avoid long wait times on arrival
• Allow foreign workers to do pre-registration digitally ahead of visiting the clinic
• Allow foreign workers to have portability of their own medical data
• Translate common foreign worker languages (e.g. Bengali) to English, with medical context

With the above, we hope to better serve our foreign worker community by reducing patient misidentification, allowing them to have more ownership of their healthcare data, and improving staff experience in screening centres.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• The software should be available on both mobile/tablet
• User language will be common Asian languages including but not limited to English/Mandarin/Bengali/Bahasa Indonesia/Tagalog
• User design should be simple and easy to navigate
• Solutions should comply with Singapore healthcare regulations
• Any hardware solution must withstand repeated sanitising with common hospital cleaning agents like alcohol, bleach, and chlorhexidine

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Philips hopes to improve outcomes within the Intensive Care Unit of hospitals. Many lost lives are avoidable, if care providers (doctors & nurses) are able to predict and detect deterioration of patients’ conditions, and provide intervention sufficiently early.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to design solutions that have the following capabilities:

• Contactless, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs (e.g. resting heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, SpO2, blood pressure, body position)
• Based on various patient vital signs/parameters, able to predict if a patient’s health condition is deteriorating
• Alarm/notification to nurses highlighting patient deterioration 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• The software should be available on both mobile/tablet and desktop
• User language will be English
• Solutions should be on track to obtain relevant healthcare regulatory approvals within the next 12 months
• Solutions should be on track to obtain clinical validation within the next 12-18 months
• Any hardware solution must withstand repeated sanitising with common hospital cleaning agents like alcohol, bleach, and chlorhexidine

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Cargill Ocean Transportation is a leading freight-trading business that provides bulk shipping services to customers across the globe. Founded in 1956 in Geneva, our business benefits from the rich heritage and expert capabilities of the Cargill corporation.

Today, 80% of world trade is transported at sea. At the forefront, you have the seafarers who work long hours, every single day of the week and most of the time far away from home. They provide an essential role to ensure the continuing safe and efficient ocean-related supply chains. The situation has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which added additional strains to a fatigue workforce with no real improvement at the horizon. Today, about 40% of all seafarers on board cargo ships are serving beyond their Seafarer Employment Agreement (SEA). This compromises the safety of crew, ships and cargoes with weakening supply chains. Seafarers’ welfare and well-being has never been as important as of today and the international community is being urged for coordinated effort.

DESIRED SOLUTION

The prime objective is to improve Seafarer well-being and welfare by providing them the support they may need. We are primarily looking for a digital solution that can facilitate mental health support as well as track mental health status.

The service should not be limited to the extraordinary Covid-19 situation but be instead anchored with the long run in mind. We are looking at a systematic, consistent and measurable solution. The idea of focusing on the dry bulk shipping space is due to Cargill’s footprint but such a solution should be applicable to the wider maritime industry. It’s important to keep in mind that we are looking for a sustainable solution where all actors (including seafarers employers) would be incentivized to support and promote it’s use.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The solution needs to be workable without continuous connectivity but “live” enough to fit the purpose. The wide spectrum of nationalities emphasizes on the fact that the language barrier must be considered and overcome. Such solution should remain secured, anonymous and comply with the International Maritime Organization and the WHO guidelines. Wearable devices could be considered but we should be mindful on solutions that would be too intrusive.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

We envision the future of supply chain is a data driven model that provide clarity to monitor goods and material status to increase visibility, product quality and reliability. This required the end to end supply chain to be integrated with multiple sensory nodes that allow companies to connect, comprehend and predict future changes in the environment. As such Track & trace is an anchor technology which enables companies to access and monitor the condition of products, materials, and inventory.

Pandemic like Covid 19 has demonstrated the importance of having useful information on supply chain nodes to avoid disruption to healthcare services by providing timely delivery of medical supplies. While it is possible to implement track & trace within a closed system, the scaling of the technology to serve as a component within the end-to-end supply chain ecosystem is challenging. Existing solutions like barcodes, QR codes, RFID tags, GPS-based beacon etc., are either bulky, not cost effective, or difficult to scale from consumer to medical products. They also do not allow for a fully ‘touchless’ supply chain due to various technical constraints or cost inhibiting factors.

Moreover, currently there is a lack of standardization within the technology space. Therefore, future track & trace solutions need to consider cost, disposability, wireless communicability, autonomous/semi-autonomous tagging and portably to existing products.

DESIRED SOLUTION

We seek the next generation of track & trace solution as follows:

1. An affordable solution that can work across low cost consumer products to medical devices
2. Ease of implementation

• Easy to scale and cost effective
• Minimal infrastructure changes
• May have a range of solutions to meet variety of products from consumer to medical devices
• For medical product only: ability to monitor the condition of product during shipment (temp, shock, damage etc.) with a prolong battery life
• Autonomous or semi-autonomous tagging and un-tagging
• Sustainable material in terms of waste creation
• Self-powering capability will be a plus
• Anti-counterfeiting will be a plus

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The solution must balance hardware innovation in a software-defined framework where the interaction of the physical component with the software ecosystem will be the key. Capability and background in engineering and embedded systems is required, while in wireless connectivity, nanotechnology and in machine learning is a plus.

Development time: 24-36 months.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Lufthansa Cargo introduced an automated spot sale process (so called A-spots) in several stations in Asia Pacific in December 2019. in order to drive automation and increase the share of “low and no-touch" quotations. Customers can generate a spot quotation within minutes (based on the type and size of cargo and desired routing) and through different digital sales channels (LH.com website, external platforms like Cargo.one or their own website integrated via API).

While digitization is transforming the spot sale process into a more efficient process, it also results in the loss of personal contact between sales and customer. Prior to the rollout of A-spots, these interactions (prior to quotations and bookings) would give a lot of insights into business intelligence (customer preferences, willingness to pay, consultation for complex products, routings and/or availability) and often lead to opportunities for new or additional business. Additionally, it is important to note that the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for a smarter and better digital solution which support our A-spot solution.

DESIRED SOLUTION

A digital solution that is able to generate and analyze customer requirements based on a plurality of information other than the quotation history only We seek for a solution that can achieve the following: 1. Help the customer articulate their individual needs and preferences 2. Take into account the diversity of freight forwarders and markets 3. Provide a smart decision support system (to enhance human sales capability or fully automate sales for low and no-touch spot quotations)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Background in software development or data engineering, with knowledge in Sales or the logistics industry

Development timeline: 12-24 months

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

It can be difficult in a very delivery focused organisation like Rolls-Royce to understand how productive and engaged our workforce is, and how this impacts our delivery and financial metrics. This is compounded in the current global climate with the majority of our employees working remotely. How might digital solutions or novel techniques help us get a handle on this?

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

In Rolls-Royce, it is very expensive to remove our products for any unplanned maintenance due to a suspected fault. We are interested in any digital inspection solutions which would allow us to inspect our products without having to physically remove them or remove too many components on them, and therefore keep them in operation for longer.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Digital Manufacturing: The world is becoming a connected place throughout all aspects of our lives, both at home and work. Demands on manufacturing equipment to produce and consume information requires increased connectivity and data transfer rates, often adversely affecting the operational performance of the process. With the plethora of existing and emerging industrial connectivity and communication standards, interoperability continues to be difficult.

How can industry drive consolidation onto more widely accepted standards that provide optimal interoperability without the burden of complex gateways/ adaptors and data conversions that are required today?

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Supply Chain 4.0: The World has seen a significant migration away from traditional focus on ‘domestic’ manufacture to one of increasingly leveraging a globally diverse (and distributed) supply chain. However, the reality being very little capability has been developed in-parallel to truly operate a fully transparent exchange of data and information across all layers of business process; product data and manufacture/ service of product. Much of today’s digital capabilities are focussed at supplier/ vendor management processes, resulting in large ‘blind spots’ for true ‘real time’ visibility of supply chain capabilities within both manufacture and customer service.

How can Industry take advantage of emerging digital technologies to not just rectify today’s deficiencies, but ‘slingshot’ to the next-generation of supplier integration and seamless data sharing for the full lifecycle of its product and processes?

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Aerospace visual inspections often involve finding small and sometimes subjective defects/anomalies against visually similar backgrounds. The defects/anomalies can be in the order of 1E-6 area ratio which might be masqueraded as noise. The majority of parts inspected are often defect-free, but aerospace safety standards mandate meticulous coverage nonetheless. These inspections are often laborious for humans, and therefore favorite subjects for automation. Many attempts to develop automated visual inspections are premised upon rules and logic to detect the defects/anomalies. However, since defects/anomalies are exceptions rather than the norm, it is challenging to codify computational rules and logic that can capture all possibilities and one-offs.

Furthermore, aerospace parts may tolerate a small level of dimensional variations, which means that conventional image processing methods (such as template matching) would flag up an unnecessary level of false alarms that nullify the intended value-add from automation.

We welcome novel ideas from the teams overcome this challenge.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Every single day, DHL Express handles more than 3.5 million parcels and flyers globally. These parcels are delivered from the airports to the local service centers, where they are sorted by delivery zones.

Currently, at the service centers, couriers stand along a conveyor belt to conduct the sorting activity, they identify the parcels that they need to deliver by manually eyeballing the shipping address on the shipping label. Any parcels that are missed and not picked up on the first pass are put through the conveyor again for subsequent passes.

This process is manual and time-consuming, and can easily take up to 1 hour.

DESIRED SOLUTION

• Eliminate need for manual eyeballing of shipping labels
• 100% pick up rate on first pass on conveyor belt
• Significantly decrease time that couriers need to spend in the service centres
• Free up courier time so that transit times for deliveries can be faster

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Software should be able to be integrated with DHL existing platforms (for a pilot, not necessary, but to be adopted as ongoing solutions this would be necessary)
• Hardware: prefer minimal infrastructure/equipment requirements in terms of machinery, devices, etc. (Note constraints: in SG, ceiling height is fixed and conveyors are sitting on floor - ceiling is high and no space for floor-mounted infra, and the cannot be modifications to existing infrastructure)
• Locations: Pilot in SE Asia
• Languages: prefer an interface that is simple and visual, ideally not dependent on languages, but post-pilot, any text would need to be multi-lingual for various Asian languages)

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Flavor development, usage and manufacturing creates a lot of smell in the air while all these activities are best done in a neutral environment to ensure low contamination from one product to another. Manufacturing also has the potential for smells escaping into the environment creating issues with the communities surrounding the facility. Today, these issues are managed with high energy equipment such as RTO or high air exchange unit requiring cooling.

DESIRED SOLUTION

Neutral smell environment inside and outside with significantly lower energy usage.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Air quality needs to at least match current standards for laboratories, manufacturing and outside environment. Needs to be able to handle a wide variety of smell compounds (from Onion / Garlic to lemon) and flash points. Should be able to neutralize hazardous compounds in addition Able to be retrofitted in existing facilities from manufacturing to laboratory scales

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Digital Manufacturing: The demand for access to information throughout the manufacturing life-cycle requires robust and secure data transfer infrastructures which are aligned to the operational requirements of real time production. Traditional wired industrial networks, designed for deterministic field bus applications no longer meet the demands of information rich processes consuming ‘complex model data’ or producing ‘point cloud’ or ‘image’ data. Considering the advances in public telephony infrastructure such as 5G and other radio frequency networks (WIFI, LoraWAN, Zigbee, BlueTooth, etc), how can industry take advantage without major investments in technology that could quickly become obsolete or out dated?

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

With the rapidly changing demands of occupants and the availability of smart building technologies, building managers are deploying various Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to meet those needs and to maximize operational efficiency. Buildings systems are growing in complexity but the management and integration of the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) of those systems have not changed in response.

As a result of the lack of integration, building managers are not able to make full use of the data to generate insights and to improve process efficiencies. In some cases, the building systems are left vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. The current building systems market is fragmented, with each type of service provider offer a specific array of services. E.g. electrical and mechanical contractors specialize in OT systems implementation and IT system integrators for IT systems integration. While each type of service provider has strengths and gaps in expertise, their services do not integrate seamlessly, resulting in prolonged implementation time, siloed workflows, and mediocre user experience.

DESIRED SOLUTION

To create a Master Systems Integration architecture solution that enables aggregation of IT/OT systems to achieve increase building efficiency, resiliency, sustainability, comfort and safety Building operations:

• Connect and integrate with any IT/OT systems
• Generate insights on a unified, singular view dashboard with information such as building performance, occupants comfort level, and other key information for strategic and operational decision-makings
• Beyond monitor and control of systems, optimize workflows to improve efficiency of facilities management
• Cyber-secured 

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Haier Group, a global leading provider of better-life solutions, have 122 factories around the world supplying high-value home appliances to over 160 countries and regions. Home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners are often large, heavy and cosmetic, with an expectation to be delivered to our customers in perfect conditions. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a very effective protection packaging material that we use in our current packaging solutions. It has superior cost and cushioning performance attributes but does not meet our sustainability brand values (which is detailed in the Technical Specs section below).

DESIRED SOLUTION

The objective of this innovation call is to find the partners who are developing sustainable cushioning materials to replace EPS. Partners either are developing the sustainable cushioning materials that keep appliances well protected during transport and storage, or have deep knowledge in research and development of sustainable new materials, and have capabilities to extend the applications for home appliances packaging.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

With 98% air and 2% polystyrene, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a very versatile material with unique cushioning and lightweight properties. The sustainable alternative materials shall meet:

Performance:

• Matching or ideally exceeding EPS properties (density range and cushioning ability)
• Static and dynamic compressive strength (repeated impact resistance and shock absorption)
• Remain dimensionally stable during global distribution (e.g. thermal stability up to 70°C/160°F and long shelf life)
• Water-proof (not affected by humidity/moisture)

Sustainability:

• Made from renewable raw materials that are environmentally responsibly sourced
• Easily and widely recycled globally and minimises waste to landfill
• Commercially or home compostable
• Has low impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and energy use during the manufacturing and end-of-life processes

Economic viability and sustainable supply:

• The material technology is production scalable and affordable, meaning it has the ability to satisfy potential demand and compete with EPS material price range
• Fabrication of new materials is compatible with existing EPS manufacturing equipment
• Ideally both the sustainable raw material source and part supplier can be located within close proximity to Haier Group manufacturing locations to minimise transportation impacts

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

PSA is committed to drive sustainable growth in the port & logistics industry and enable greener logistics choices for our stakeholders. Our organisation’s Climate Response includes efforts to decarbonize and conserve energy in our portfolio of assets. We want to invest in new technologies to reduce the environmental impact generated through our port activities while maintaining our competitive advantage as a global terminal operator.

One key area is how we can address the energy efficiency of the equipment operating at our terminals. In loading and unloading operations, containers weighing an average of 20 tonnes are moved by the quay cranes (aka STS cranes) in horizontal and vertical motions. Cranes are connected to the electric grid and consume large amount of energy to power the multi-axis movement of various crane components. Whilst regenerative units are currently installed to recover some energy from motion braking, energy losses still inevitably occur due to friction at the trolley, crane vibrations which can be exacerbated by high winds and other environmental factors. We welcome creative ideas and solutions that seeks to reduce or recover lost energy.

Potential areas for energy to be harnessed can include (but not limit to) through vibrations, the inherent compression force on the crane structure, or any innovative renewable technologies that can complement the container handling operations. The solution has to generate power without increasing drag and friction that will compromise the current energy efficiency of the crane. The project shall minimally complete its POC within one year. Scope of evaluation shall include technical feasibility, costs, payback period, traction and management team.

Come innovate with us to play a part in building a green and sustainable maritime logistics for the industry!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Typical PSA QC Technical Specifications 

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

In many parts of the developing world, infrastructure to manage waste has not kept up with rapid urbanization and population growth. Currently, based on calculations by World Bank, India is the largest producer of waste globally which is 200,000 tonnes per day as per a conservative estimate. It is projected to increase by 70% over the next 3 decades. Also, in most South-east Asian cities, in the absence of well-designed recycling systems, many cities rely on informal networks of waste pickers to collect and sort trash.

We see gaps in waste-collection, segregation, and recycling infrastructure in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India.

DESIRED OUTCOME

Innovative solutions to create and scale-up smart-bins/infrastructure for collection and segregation to maximize efficiency for waste-operators which can enable them to recover material and integrate recycled plastic in supply chains.

For Example, in India, source-segregation doesn’t take place which creates hurdles for plastic recycling. If start-ups can bridge gaps in the collection via setting up collection centers or smart bins, it can help local bodies manage the plastic-waste efficiently encouraging segregation and recycling.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

Plastic is such an excellent material with properties like corrosion resistance, easy- processing, and high-sealability that makes our life convenient. Plastic packaging, on the other hand, is garnering attention as a cause of greenhouse gas emission and marine debris. In many countries, governments are responding by developing new policies and regulations to promote plastic package recycling.

The plastic recycling rate in Japan is about 30%; beverage PET bottles and food trays are major packagings that are recycled, while toiletry products like shampoo/conditioner bottles are mostly incinerated. One of the reasons that we cannot recycle toiletry product packaging is because of its difficulty to clean up remnant juice completely.

DESIRED OUTCOME

Innovative solutions that enable remove remnant shampoo/conditioner juice completely from its bottle. It can be:

1) New package design/function that is easy to remove remnant juice completely, or

2) Washing technology that enables to wash out remnant juice

3) Another innovative solution that helps consumers to throw away clean shampoo/conditioner bottles is also welcome