Hi You seem to have taken a problem expressed in a paper and suggested a concept solution. The intent is great, however I would say that the product as a signal booster exists and if people can afford it they would purchase it. The solar element reduces the need for a plug point, however the devices receiving a signal would also soon require a plug point so the exposure is inherently limited. I would suggest looking at some numbers - how much area has enough signal to boost but not enough to use. Next, how many of these places have electricity available. Ands then, how much of the area does NOT have electricity but still has demand for a signal. Usually the market dynamics that drives device use also drive supply of electricity - to have one and not the other MAY be a small overlap - meaning solar may not be the best option. AND if it is not solar, how is your product different form the market offerings. These are my thoughts, I could of course be wrong - but in summary I would suggest doing some demand supply analysis Tavish

Hi Antanas I like the intention behind the idea, and the point about re-inventing the wheel is a classic moral dilemma about IP rights that often comes up. Without intelligence protection, a lot of effort would not be put in as the inventor has little incentive but it does create inefficiencies. That problem I believe, as you also do, by open sourcing as much as possible. there are operations such as crowdsolve, slack, etc which are similar however I understand you have a more focussed social aspect to it. In order to validate the idea I would suggest adding a lot more detail into the specifics of this and why it should replace existing efforts as people who want to contribute already do on what is available. Remember, human attention span is limited and is increasingly scarce so I think the idea, even at a concept stage, needs to be laid out a little more in detail with USPs that make it better than existing methods Tavish

This makes complete sense to me! I would think its a case of the data all being there, just not connected and wrestled into something useful. I dont have much to add as you seem to have thought most fo this through quite well - but perhaps find some analogues of similar platforms. WHat do they look like, what data streams do you need to plug into and more importantly how to validate the algorithm with each real event so you could get better over time. Amazon, for example, ships things to local warehouses in anticipation for order based on data analysis before someone has even ordered it. The logistical trigger points for your idea will have a similar logic and maybe there is something to be gained by exploring how they do it? Finally I would think it would be useful to reach out to people in this field, both in the field and in academia, to see what they suggest as a way of adding more detail into the plan Good luck!

Hi This sounds promising to me, you seem to have put some thought into this. The crowd funding pathway (kickstarter, for example) and the charity pathways (examples are many) and also the crowdsolving pathways (slack) are all well established and proven. I believe what you are headed to is a more focused marriage between engineering and socially responsible products. The key question, I feel, would be how and who audits the companies to ensure they are compatible with the ethos. This would need a team with an established criteria set which would need funding. I would suggest to create a high level skeleton of the financial dynamics - which you have already touched upon. Perhaps the audited companies could get a certification (similar to fairtrade) and charge subscription fee (applicable after they go to market) to form some sort of income for the operation. That is just one idea - but financial autonomy and funding dynamics will be a key detail in my opinion. I would also suggest having a look at Effective Altruism which is an organisation that studies the most effective way of leveraging charity - something along the lines of what you are going for. Tavish

Hi Just passing through, I am not officially your team's mentor but would like to state that I fully agree this is a real problem and there is also a whole new element to this - 3D printing waste. As far as I know there is no current viable method to recycle this and is even worse than the material waste you've mentioned due to being mostly inorganic materials. Good luck!

This seems like a fantastic approach to me. One can take an analog from apps that redistribute waste food and understand their economics and logistics - I would guess they would be happy to speak with you Secondly, please have a look at this - there are some data and ideas you might find useful - https://explore.ucalgary.ca/building-smart-safe-and-sustainable-cities Tavish

HI Isabel I agree that progress in a field is difficult to track without a visual higher level visual. That said I feel the thoughts you have laid out need to lead to something actionable. You mention that a regulation must be enacted - could you elaborate on what this would be, who would do it and how this would play out? in summary I think the idea is high level and has the right intention but you need to zoom in to some detail and more importantly connect this with the sustainability goals laid out for this project. Tavish

Great approach - if I may add a suggestion, I would say the foods need to be classified based on their metric - whether it is sustainability, carbon footprint, health factors, fairtrade factors, etc. - and not just vegan biased. While mass produced meat is obviously bad for the environment and health, there are also the bad sides of vegan supply chain. For example, monocrop agriculture is also extremely damaging to the environment due to the unnatural crop cycles, fertilizers, ecological imbalances and all the animals that get killed when using large farm equipment. On the other hand arguably raising chicken in the backyard may be better. Point being, good and bad supply chains are split between vegan and on vegan and putting numbers will help make the information objective rather than emotional and also ensure that a move to veganism happens with the right products and not replace one problem with another

Hi Tarique I like the incentive driven recycling community you have outlined. I would suggest doing some cost estimation of such an infrastructure and how much you get in return. We need to ensure that the system is feasible financially, as well as ecologically - for example the carbon released in deploying the infrastructure must not exceed what is offset by recycling. I also like the fact that you point to locality of recycling - this is an ongoing issue as countries off load their recycling to other countries and mark the items as recycled but the recipient country may not be as diligent as claimed on paper. There are piles of electrical items in African countries just going into landfill as an example. I would think that the private consumer using a roadside bin is not only a small contributor as compared to corporates,, the materials will be extremely varying and the quality of recyclable material (contamination etc) will be poor. It would be perhaps more efficient to target larger operations like corporates, municipal operations, etc who will have much higher weight of materials and more consistency, These companies will do whatever costs lowest so the incentives and points should make sure its always more financially sensible for them to do the right thing. In summary, I would try to do some high level 'balance sheets' of what your system costs both financially and ecologically vs what it gains in order to validate the idea Tavish

Hi Lawrence, this is Tavish Kotian - I have been assigned as a mentor to your project. I like the idea and that you point to the fact that due to the longer term ecological implications of everyday actions, the public tends to focus on more immediate concerns. An app would be a great way to track this, however there is a risk that an app is one more thing to get 'overwhelmed' with as you state. Therefore I would think that the app needs to 'pull' rather than 'push'. Meaning, instead of expecting someone to find more time in the day for one more app, the app would need to provide something that the person gravitates towards for some reason. For example, suggestions in lowering carbon footprint could also help lower cost in some cases - and now there is an incentive. One suggestion that comes to mind is this - there could be a central database (crowdsourced like wikipedia perhaps) that maintains the ethical footprint (sustainability, carbon deficit, fairtrade, etc) with the barcode data of mainstream products. anyone with the app can scan this in a supermarket and compare the footprint of these products and if there have been any red flags raised. This same app can also tell the consumer this is available cheaper elsewhere. This way you have paired an incentive based dynamic with an ethical framework. I would recommend thinking along those lines to create an incentive and justification for the app to be relevant in what is a very competitive space and human attention, as you say, is very limited. If you want to have a conversation or want to discuss your project please feel free to reach out. regards Tavish