Entrepreneurial CASE Studies

Entomophagy means the use of insects as foodstuff for humans or as a feedstuff for animals. While human insect-eating is often a taboo in Northern countries, it is a common phenomenon in many parts of the world. The use of insects as an alternate source of protein is not new and insects are/were regularly eaten by humans. Several studies show that the consumption of insects contributes positively to the environment and to health and livelihoods. However, in the last decades, a global “nutrition transition” is taking place, exporting the non-sustainable meat-based Western diet to other parts of the world. As in other sectors, too, the transfer of Western styles of production and consumption lead to high environmental loads and resource depletion and promotes unhealthy lifestyle patterns.

Since its outbreak to the present day, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has significantly changed the global world and human lives at the individual and the societal level. Infection with this virus can cause severe health problems and serious complications with a fatal outcome, and with all measures to protect against infection, the risk of infection depends on a person’s exposure to the virus. From a spatial point of view, for example, this risk is higher in areas with higher population density and in activities that require close contacts between people. From the weather perspective, the risk of infection depends on seasonal changes in weather conditions during the year as well as on the frequency of movement of people during the day. The risk of infection also depends on immunity of each individual and the general condition of the organism. Taking into account the above spatial, temporal and personal characteristics, it is necessary to create a system that, taking into account a user's risk of infection, allows the user to assess the level of virus exposure in future and previous time intervals, generate alerts at potential increased risk, and possible recommendations which reduce the risk of virus exposure and infection. The system should be based on entered and publicly available data on the pandemic, the location of user movements and other important parameters. Available ICT approaches and technologies, including data analysis procedures, can be used to achieve the set goal.

Using ICT, this entrepreneurial case proposal seeks to benefit the respective end-users with automatic tools that rely on internet and smartphone technology to improve urban mobility. In particular, building on top of a navigation system (Google Street View) and using computer vision techniques, analyse and propose paths/routes that satisfy more exquisite user criteria. Of particular interest are people with impaired vision or walking capability.

NoMoFoW (No More Food Waste) - Leveraging the power of "Digital Society" x "Circular Economy", research the technology, the societal/economical needs/impact, and the business use-cases for a digital platform (Apps, Databases, APIs) to enable/incentivize higher rate of information and therefore consumption of discount-stickered food products that are about to past their best-before/due-by dates – instead they can be more efficiently promoted via the proposed platform hence save everything (money, economy, ecology).