Ericsson innovation awards. Girls who innovate submissions. age category: 16-18

Transcription

1 Ericsson innovation awards Girls who innovate submissions age category: How can technology help the way we produce food and reduce world hunger?

2 "The current population on Earth is over 7 billion, and it is expected to grow up to 10 billion by Is the world ready for this kind of growth? We need to develop a faster way to produce food in order to be prepared for the future. The way to do this is through farming because it is the root of everything. If there were a way to quicken the process of growing plants, we would no doubt be ready in 33 years. Which is why I have developed a fertilizer, which increases the speed of growing plants up to four times its original amount. It works like this: a tube is attached from the roots of a plant, to the top where there is a strainer to prevent objects from falling in. A drone, with a tank of fertilizer attached, stops by each plant and drops off the recommended amount of liquid. I have also designed a refilling station in which the drone is charged, and the tank is refilled. This also allows farmers to work on other tasking jobs while the drone is doing this. World hunger has become a problem worldwide, and my idea helps those in need as well. The drone can detect present vitamins and minerals in each field, and also ones that are missing. That way the missing vitamins and minerals can be added to the fertilizer, allowing plants to be grown in any type of area. Including areas where world hunger is common."

3 1st prize To see Maria s video, click here:

4 We are all aware of the stores in our community, some mutual in many countries too - some prime examples being Starbucks and 7-Eleven. While these stores have immense sales, more often than not, by the time it is time for them to close, they have leftover food items that can still be consumed. In our status quo, the ultimate solution to this problem is to throw all the leftover food away, ignoring the harsh reality of the 795 million people in the world who go to bed hungry. With powerful advances like those in technology, it is high time that we use this to our advantage and make proper use of food items that are perfect for consumption. Presenting to you, Store for More! This application bridges both stakeholders, volunteers and the stores, to each actively participate in being a step closer to ending world hunger. Bakeries input basic information like their opening times, an average number of leftover food items they have and what time volunteers can collect this bread. On the other hand, volunteers select bakeries they can access easily, visit them at their closing times and collect the leftover bread. This is all done in partnership with a local organization, in Hong Kong s example, Feeding Hong Kong. The leftover bread is then delivered to the organization s headquarters, where volunteers help to deliver the bread to those without food. With this simple solution, not only are we able to alleviate world hunger, we can also promote student service, developing our world as a more caring & affectionate place.

5 2nd prize Watch Anushka s video here:

6 To solve the issue of reducing world hunger, we must work towards eliminating poverty. There is enough food in the world; however, we must increase the buying power of those who are in poverty so that they may be self-sufficient. Through technology innovation, we need to create rural broadband networks and other technologies such as mobile devices that those in third-world countries can afford. To ensure we that we are being responsible with our consumption and production, we can provide electricity to these rural broadband networks through solar panels, wind-turbine farms, and/or hydropower stations. Not only are these the three most cost-efficient forms of renewable energy, but the manual labor could be completed by those who need jobs in the area to provide further income diversification. Through this enablement, they would be able to connect to non-profits who offer microfinancing, get access to global and local markets to sell, and utilize online banking. For example, a woman could use the technology to receive microfinancing options from a non-profit to start her tailoring business. This would not only allow for income diversification, but would also allow for there to be more than one income earner in the household and the reduction of poverty rates, thus providing people with buying power to purchase food. Moreover, income diversification would provide women with more opportunities to contribute towards their family incomes. By providing those in poverty with affordable technology we can eliminate poverty to provide the necessary buying power to eliminate world hunger.

7 3rd prize Watch Ariana s story at:

8 "My idea of solving the world's starvation problem is multistage. I believe its too complex to be solved by single activity. Activities related to my idea are both global (saving money) and local (helping rural residents, without governments support). Establishing cooperation between UNESCO and world's media giants, e.g. Facebook, would mean: Spending some money on our goal for every hashtagged post, e.g. #wecanfightit, made by single person around the world. Making educational campaigns with usage of social media sensitizing to the real problem of world hunger. Proper development of gained resources: Purchasing hi-tech, straightforward agricultural machines and specific seeds. Constructing robots designed with: Programs: researching geological possibilities of soil (choosing certain soil type for certain seeds) receiving information about the number and average age of population of a single village and possibilities of soil near the village to inform how many and which plant species should be sowed to give enough harvests to feed all inhabitants, according to the rules of healthy nutrition. The program could eventually lead to choosing the best ground for each plant after the research. A possibility to mark certain cultivated crops and to play tutorial video presenting usage of agricultural machines in residents' language (recording it with a native to convince others) An intelligent system answering questions asked by people (by voice due to the problem of illiteracy) concerning machines' usage and farming Solar batteries An alarm system Payed group of specialists realizing the project."

9 Honorable mention Watch Agnieszka s presentation (top right of the page: open with PowerPoint) here:

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