SURFLOGH

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30 March 2020 - Published by Deirdre Buist
Within Surflogh there is a large focus on the implementation of pilots, but besides this the partnership organizes conferences, innovation labs and hackathons during the course of the project to discover and discuss new and sustainable concepts for smart city distribution.

Our partners at the Municipality of Mechelen organized a 24-hour hackathon with second-year Logistics Management students from the Thomas More University College last year. Together with representatives from the logistics sector, some 65 students hacked concepts and ideas for an emission free city distribution by 2030.

The challenge

The main challenge for the participants was to really think out of the box - feasibility on the short term not being a major concern. The ideas had to be radical, innovative, sustainable, city-friendly and uncomplicated.

Finally, all teams presented their ideas to a professional jury during a 3-minute pitch. All of the 13 concepts could be divided into 3 main themes:

  • (Autonomous) logistics over water

  • Underground distribution systems

  • Crowd logistics and community engagement

Going underground

The jury finally chose team ‘Duo Mol’ as the winner. ‘Duo Mol’ was presented as an underground distribution system with several micro hubs and reverse logistics, including a waste collection flow, for instance. The winning team received a cheque of 1,000 euro to further develop their idea during the following months. The students then presented a final concrete business concept.

This team will join other winning teams from other Surflogh hackathons to present at the Surflogh Final Conference,  still planned for September 2020 in Mechelen (BEL).

Take a look at Mechelen's hackathon vlog