Your company's data could help end world hunger | Mallory Freeman

TL;DR

In June 2010, the speaker arrived in Rome with the intention of using data to solve world hunger.

Transcript

June 2010. I landed for the first time in Rome, Italy. I wasn't there to sightsee. I was there to solve world hunger. (Laughter) That's right. I was a 25-year-old PhD student armed with a prototype tool developed back at my university, and I was going to help the World Food Programme fix hunger. So I strode into the headquarters building and my eye... Read More

Key Insights

• 🌍 Data can be used to optimize routes and save money in humanitarian operations, potentially saving lives and feeding more people.
• 🤝 Collaboration between academic institutions, companies, and humanitarian organizations is crucial for making significant progress in addressing global issues like world hunger.
• 📊 Companies can make a big impact by donating their data, decision scientists, and technology to gather new sources of data for humanitarian efforts.
• 🌐 Donating data can lead to important insights and predictions, such as tracking the spread of diseases or monitoring the impact of droughts on food production.
• 💡 Decision scientists are needed to analyze and transform data into practical algorithms that can address specific challenges in humanitarian aid. ⏳ Building long-term partnerships and investing time and resources are necessary for using data to drive operational changes and achieve significant results.
• 💼 Companies have a business incentive to engage in data philanthropy as it can lead to new insights about customers and potential customers in developing countries.
• 💪 Engaging young professionals who care about making a social impact is vital, and data philanthropy can help companies retain and engage decision scientists.

Questions & Answers

Q: What was the speaker's initial goal when they arrived in Rome, Italy?

The speaker's initial goal was to solve world hunger by using a prototype tool developed at their university to optimize food distribution for the World Food Programme.

Q: Did the speaker's initial attempt to solve world hunger using data optimization succeed?

No, the speaker's first attempt to use data optimization to solve world hunger was not successful. They were told that the necessary data for their algorithms was not available at that time.

Q: How did the speaker's team eventually succeed in using data to save lives?

The speaker's team created a tool that could analyze and process 900 million different options for planning and optimizing food distribution. Through this tool, they were able to save 17% of costs in an operation in Iraq, resulting in feeding an additional 80,000 people.

Q: How does the speaker propose that companies can help in solving big problems like world hunger?

The speaker suggests that companies can contribute to solving big problems through data philanthropy. They can donate their collected data, decision scientists, and technology to gather new sources of data, which can revolutionize the humanitarian world and make a positive impact.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The speaker, Mallory Soldner, arrived in Rome in 2010 to solve world hunger using a prototype tool. However, she was told the idea was good, but the data needed for her algorithms was not available.

• Mallory discusses the importance of data in solving complex humanitarian problems and how her team created a tool that allowed decision makers to analyze millions of options and make effective decisions.

• She emphasizes the need for companies to donate data, decision scientists, and technology to help make a bigger impact in solving global problems like world hunger.