Innovation Challenges

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Challenge Owner(s)
Kimberly-Clark, Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities, UPS
Organiser(s) Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)
Industry Type(s)
Digital/ICT, Education Services, Logistics, Retail
Opportunities and Support Opportunities to co-develop and prototype solutions with challenge statement owners
Application Start Date 1 August 2022
Application End Date 23 September 2022
Website Click here to learn more

About Challenge

The Open Innovation Platform (OIP) is a virtual crowd-sourcing platform that connects and matches real business challenges or digitalisation opportunities of Problem Owners to Problem Solvers.  

This is your chance to co-create with leading companies and develop new partnerships!

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Challenge Owner(s)Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark

Founded in 1872, Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer packaged goods (CPG) corporation and is among the Fortune 500 with annual revenues of more than US$18 billion. Kimberly-Clark products include Kleenex facial tissues, Kotex feminine hygiene products and Huggies disposable diapers and baby wipes. 

This problem statement is sponsored by Kimberly-Clark’s Feminine Care category, a portfolio which includes brands such as Kotex, UbyKotex, White, Goodfeel, Softex and La Nature. These brands hold #1 or #2 share positions across many markets in Asia Pacific and impact up to 100 million consumers annually. 

25 million girls aged between 10 and 13 in APAC encounter their first period every year. They are typically under-prepared and embarrassed about it. Current outreach material and programmes in the schools are not relevant or engaging enough to support them during this critical change in their adolescence. The contrast is especially stark when compared with the more immersive content formats that these Gen-Zs are exposed to outside of school, through digital platforms such as social media and video games. 

Today, Kimberly-Clark has an existing period edutainment tool with immersive content to guide girls through puberty and periods. For the next stage, we are looking for a purpose-driven partner to 10X our social impact by translating this proprietary experience onto Gen-Z gaming platforms (Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite) for wider consumer distribution and access. 

What We Are Looking For

Kimberly-Clark is looking for a partner who can expand the distribution of an existing edutainment tool in Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft. Problem solvers must provide a proposal on the platform(s) to integrate Kimberly-Clark’s material in, with the target audience of girls aged 10 to 13 years, and be able to demonstrate their approach on integrating the existing tool in the chosen platform(s). They must also showcase existing work (capability and proof of performance) done in the platform(s) chosen, and how the solution has potential to expand regionally or globally. 

The solution should include the following:
Engaging Experience / Intuitive: The problem solver must use Kimberly-Clark’s existing edutainment tool and explore how to leverage on the material and translate it into a more immersive experience, targeting young girls.
Easily Accessible and Distributed through Gen-Z native platforms: The content should be developed on platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite or Minecraft (based on recommended platform).
Social Interaction: The users should be able to share the experience with their peers and/or across social media channels.
Collection of Data: The prototype should be able to collect data from users, including demographic data and user behaviour (e.g. play time).
Device Agnostic: The prototype is to be used by a wide audience across geographics and should work across all common technology devices. It should be able to accommodate different types of operating systems across smartphones and computers, and demonstrate seamlessness across different connection speeds.

The submission from the problem solvers should contain these deliverables:
Proposed gaming platform that best suits Kotex’s target audience. Insights that show familiarity of platform and target audience will be a bonus.
Showcase credentials and relevant portfolio in proposed platform.
An initial approach for the project (proposed user journey, key considerations, timelines and ballpark costs). 

There are no restrictions on the geographical location of the problem solvers. However, the prototype must be demonstrated in Singapore. 
Challenge Owner(s)Kimberly-Clark
Industry Types(s)Digital/ICT

Kimberly-Clark

Founded in 1872, Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer packaged goods (CPG) corporation and is among the Fortune 500 with annual revenues of more than US$18 billion. Kimberly-Clark products include Kleenex facial tissues, Kotex feminine hygiene products and Huggies disposable diapers and baby wipes.

As the category leader for baby diapers in several markets, Kimberly-Clark invests significant time and resources, and partners with market research vendors to conduct different tests to develop winning product concepts and attributes that addresses consumer needs and demands across various markets. These tests include concept tests with consumers, and product tests in the lab or via home use tests with responses captured via survey questionnaire and usage diaries, to determine the technical performance of the diapers (e.g. leakage, absorption). 

As part of its innovation transformation roadmap, Kimberly-Clark wants to add data analytics/intelligence capabilities and artificial intelligence to their concept and product attribute development and testing process. They aim to develop a smart solution which can predict the market success of new concepts and product attributes for Huggies diapers. Through this, Kimberly-Clark can then shorten the user testing process by shortlisting a curated list of potential winning concepts and products to move to actual product development and physical testing with users, earlier. Thereafter, consumer testing will be conducted to help validate and adjust the accuracy of the solution, enabling Kimberly-Clark to identify the final winning concept and product for actual launch.

What We Are Looking For

A prototype solution that can predict the market success of new concepts and product attributes, with data collection, synthesis, and analytics capabilities, and eliminate the need for consumer feedback and development of physical product prototypes. Kimberly-Clark will provide datasets for the prototype development to test out the solution.

The solution should provide the following capabilities:

  • Incorporate Existing Consumer Testing Data: The solution must be able to incorporate Kimberly-Clark’s existing data points from several data sources to serve as data input for the solution. The data sources may include technical specifications of the diapers, user testing data and technical performance data gathered from existing concept/product tests, sales and e-commerce data, demographic and customer preference data, and social media engagement data. The comprehensiveness of data for different datasets may vary, and Kimberly-Clark will co-determine the appropriate data input required with the solution provider. 

  • Data Analytics Capabilities: The solution must include a data sourcing, selection, and synthesis model to consolidate and analyse different types of data from the different databases. 

  • Social Media Sentiment Analysis: The solution must have social data scraping and analytics capabilities to extract basic and analyse social sentiment data about Huggies or diapers in general from various platforms, such as Facebook and Google reviews, to predict winning concepts and attributes.

Challenge Owner(s)UPS
Industry Types(s)
Digital/ICT, Logistics

UPS

Founded in 1907, United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”) is the world’s premier package delivery company and a leading provider of global supply chain management solutions. Every day, UPS delivers about 25.2 million packages and documents in over 220 countries and territories. They provide customers with a seamless end-to-end delivery service, which includes transportation, distribution, contract logistics, ocean freight, air freight, customs brokerage, and insurance.

UPS has Legal and Compliance teams covering most Asia Pacific countries (e.g. China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia) to help internal customers navigate the complex regulatory landscape. Many local authorities are adopting new laws and technologies to monitor and enforce the flourishing e-commerce and logistics landscape. This requires an agile and adaptable compliance system that is tuned in to the local regulatory changes, to ensure a resilient supply chain. 

Currently, UPS’ Legal, Public Affairs and respective business functions would monitor and analyse any local legal changes that might affect aviation, postal or customs, as well as other key regulatory areas such as privacy and antitrust where applicable. Such information is manually consolidated and shared with the Compliance team. They then update the relevant risk owners and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to identify possible gaps and ensure appropriate and timely compliance. This internal process of manual analysis, discussion and reporting is time-consuming and may not always provide adequate visibility to senior management in the region and globally. 

Thus, UPS is seeking to build a more responsive and agile compliance system to help its internal customers grow with a proactive regulatory change management process. The ideal solution would automate the assurance process to maintain or improve the assurance of compliance outcomes in a timely and efficient manner. This will provide UPS customers, stakeholders and management with data-driven insights for greater visibility and trust. In the long-term, the solution would provide UPS with the speed and agility to respond faster to regulatory changes and capitalise on emerging opportunities.

What We Are Looking For

UPS is seeking a system that can automate more of the process of processing relevant legal changes, and coordinating responses from risk owners and SMEs, to assure compliance. The prototype will use one of the countries in Southeast Asia as the initial testing jurisdiction. 

The automated system should be able to perform the following functions:

  • Automated Notifications: The system should be able to receive notices of relevant legal changes from the external legal counsel, and be able to classify them into different categories such as customs, postal, and aviation. Once classified, the system should send an automated notification to multiple entities for whom these changes are likely relevant. The system should allow easy addition and update of the entities who should receive the notifications. In general, regulatory changes map to certain business areas:

    • Customs: Brokerage, Finance & Accounting

    • Postal: Finance & Accounting, Public Affairs, Operations

    • Aviation: Hub & Gateway, Security

The system should be able to assess the relevance of regulatory changes and assign them accordingly to the right entities with a high level of precision, to avoid ‘spamming’ teams with irrelevant changes, or missing out a relevant entity.

  • Response Mechanism: The system should have an easy way for entities to respond and report about their compliance pipeline to address changes and report gaps/corrections. 

  • Workflow Tracking Capabilities: The system should be able to prompt the relevant entities to respond within a time limit and manage the workflow to provide a seamless experience for the Compliance team, and the risk owners and SMEs.

  • Automated & Seamless Reporting Capabilities: The system should have a database that can easily track regulations, legal changes, responses, gaps and corrections, and assurance outcomes to enable the overall solution to function. The compliance team and sub-committee should be able to retrieve suitable reports to provide assurance on compliance outcomes as needed.

The following criteria is not mandatory for this proposal, but proposals that are able to meet this criteria will be reviewed favorably. 

  • Automated Change Retrieval: The system should be able to retrieve all regulatory changes from the relevant governing authority and translate the change from its source language to English (this would replace the need for in-country legal teams to manually scan for, and report on regulatory changes). While this could be proved in Vietnam, a scalable solution would be required for multiple jurisdictions in APAC.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

  • Accurate. The system should be able to accurately notify risk owners and SMEs of changes that are relevant to them, and track any changes that have occurred 

  • Trusted. The compliance team should be able to trust the information being processed through the system and not feel the need to contact their local legal teams for further clarifications. 

  • Intuitive. Users should be able to use the solution easily, with a simple and easy-to-understand user interface

  • Standard Language. The system should be in the English language as it will be used as a regional tool. 

  • Secure. The system must meet reasonable cybersecurity standards and be accessible only to the relevant entities who will utilise it. 

  • Seamless. The different features and functions listed above should provide an overall integrated and seamless digital experience.

There are no restrictions on the geographical location of the problem solvers. However, the prototype must be demonstrated in Singapore.

Challenge Owner(s)Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC) is a charity with an Institution of Public Character (IPC) status. THKMC provides multiple social and welfare services to the community, through more than 70 programmes and services for the elderly and the sick, families, persons with disabilities, and children.

Around 60% of the children in THKMC’s Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC) are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and around half of these children require higher levels of early intervention support. These children, typically aged between 1 to 6 years old, have challenges in communication and socio-emotional interactions. They often exhibit complex challenging behaviors which adversely affect their long-term functional outcomes, participation, and inclusion at home, in school and in the community. 

THKMC’s trans-disciplinary team of early intervention (EI) professionals comprise teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, art therapists, music therapists and social workers. The EI team works together to identify the children’s behavioral triggers and sensory needs, to ensure that the children are well-regulated and able to access learning. 

Presently, managing the children’s meltdowns is a manual and time-consuming task for the teachers, and hinders them from addressing the children’s functional development goals. The student-to-teacher ratio further impedes the teachers’ ability to manage specific behaviors within the class. When a child experiences a meltdown in class, teachers need to provide immediate attention to calm the child. Precious teaching and learning time is lost for the entire class. Moreover, the noise and movement from one meltdown can affect the other children and could trigger other meltdowns.

If the time required to recognise impending signs of meltdowns is reduced, teachers can promptly support children in regulating themselves before the event escalates into a full-blown meltdown. This way, all the children can settle more quickly into their routines, and the EI team can focus on the children’s other functional goals. This in turn should enhance the child’s functional outcomes, which would improve participation in the community and reduce stress for the child’s caregivers.

This sector-wide challenge is supported by the National Council of Social Services (NCSS). NCSS is the umbrella body for social service organisations in Singapore, providing capability and capacity support for social service agencies.

What We Are Looking For

A prototype solution that would monitor, detect, and alert the EI team of physiological cues indicating initial stages of dysregulation in children with ASD. This will help teachers to respond more promptly and support the children to regulate appropriately, before full-blown meltdowns occur. 

The solution should provide the following capabilities:

  • Accurate Sensing and Prediction of Triggers: The solution should be able to facilitate the detection of physiological cues that suggest initial stages of dysregulation, based on data collected from individual children (e.g. video, audio, measurements of heart rate, skin sweat).

  • Data Analytics and Insights: The solution should be able to learn over time to build up accuracy in identifying physiological cues signifying initial stages of dysregulation in the children. 

  • Timely Notifications: The EI team should be able to receive notifications from the solution in a non-intrusive manner to alert of potential meltdowns.

  • Seamless Integration: The solution must be able to integrate into the child’s natural routines and activities in the EIPIC Centre, and potentially extended to be used in the children’s home context. The solution should ideally leverage existing technologies (e.g. CCTV cameras) in the centers and not introduce new objects to the children, which they might react adversely to.

The following criteria is not mandatory for this proposal, but proposals that are able to meet these criteria will be reviewed favorably. 

  • Ability to Identify and Affirm Positive Behaviors: Each child has a development plan and specific, personalised goals, which are tied to behaviors. The solution could ideally detect those positive behaviors (e.g. positive social interactions with one another) and prompt the teacher to reinforce them. 

  • Video Evidence Sharing: The solution could save and archive relevant video materials related to certain behaviors and triggers, to facilitate the training of new teachers, onboarding of teachers on new children in their class and sharing of video learning materials for educational purposes. These videos can also be shared with the parents for their understanding of their children’s behaviour and intervention in class.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

  • Mobile-first: The solution must be simple and easy to use for the teachers, with a low onboarding requirement (less than 2 hours to familiarise for use).

  • Low Maintenance: The solution must be easy to troubleshoot and maintain, and affordable to operate in the longer-term.

  • Compliance with PDPA: The solution must be able to consider privacy concerns and relevant data security and retention guidelines as required by THKMC, NCSS and/or related agencies. 

There are no restrictions on the geographical location of the problem solvers. However, the prototype must be demonstrated in Singapore.