![Award ceremony - Global Supply Chain Forum Innovation Challenge](/sites/default/files/2024-04/2024-04-18_p_01_Innovation_challenge_Award_Ceremony_3.jpg)
From 17 January to 17 March 2024, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held its first Supply Chain Innovation Challenge.
In two short months, we received 77 inspiring proposals on how to make supply chains greener, more efficient and resilient.
Watch here the replay of the Supply Chain Innovation Challenge Award Ceremony and discover 7 innovative proposals that aim to change supply chains as we know them today.
This video features our 7 finalists and their proposals:
- Millie Ogden - “Smart Ports 5G Technology and Renewal Energy”
- Sophie Punte - “LifeLines: Empowering local communities through supply chain resilience”
- Tadiwanashe Mutibura - “Solar-powered locker-sized booths for small-scale cross-border traders”
- Johannes Bochdalofsky - “Alternative fuels for the maritime sector and beyond, based on desert-land farmed seaweed”
- Gadi Benmoshe and Marianna Levtov - “Smart Containers Supporting Supply Chain Sustainability Efforts”
- Cristina Martín - “USYNCRO, a Blockchain and AI platform to impulse Digital Logistics Corridors worldwide”
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The Innovation Challenge is also a call to action. The wide range of creative and innovative ideas that were shared with us are a further motivation to invest in sustainable and resilient supply chains for future generations
UNCTAD
Supply Chains are the backbones of globalization and economic development. However, they face disruptions such as climate change, trade tensions, geopolitical risks, high shipping costs, capacity shortages, the global pandemic, amongst many other challenges.
To address this issue, UNCTAD organized the Supply Chain Innovation Challenge as an integral part of the Global Supply Chain Forum.
From 17 January to 17 March 2024, participants were encouraged to suggest innovative solutions to global supply chain operation and how to make them greener, more efficient, and resilient.
More than 75 proposals were sent from members of the private sector, international organizations, and academia.
The award ceremony
On 19 April 2024, UNCTAD will organize a virtual award ceremony to present the finalists and their work, and to announce the winner of the Innovation Challenge.
The winner will be traveling to Barbados to present their innovative proposal during the Global Supply Chain Forum (21-24 May 2024).
The finalists
Proposal 1: Smart Containers Supporting Supply Chain Sustainability Efforts
Gadi Benmoshe
Gadi Benmoshe is the Institutional Network Lead at AELER and is a leader in advanced smart container technologies. He integrates modern solutions into traditional shipping frameworks, influencing the future of container technology.
As the active vice chair of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) Data Collaboration Committee, he spearheaded the 'The Mindset Shift to Innovation in Ports' whitepaper, promoting innovative practices in global ports.
Additionally, Gadi is involved with key international organizations such as IMO, UN/CEFACT, WEF, IPCSA, and ISO. His work across these roles highlights his dedication to advancing global trade and logistics through innovation.
Gadi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and an M.B.A., which underpin his expertise in technical and managerial capacities.
Marianna Levtov
Marianna Levtov is the Head of Network and Advocacy at AELER, where she leverages over 15 years of experience in industrial diplomacy, specialising in IoT technologies for intermodal transportation and digital supply chains.
She also serves as the convenor of the ISO TC 104/SC4/WG2 and CEN/CENELEC/ETSI Industrial Data Task Force, establishing her as a leading authority in industry standardisation and data management.
Marianna focuses on enhancing operations across transport and logistics by adopting digital processes, Big Data Analytics, AI, and blockchain technologies. Her efforts are foundational in fostering international collaboration and setting global standards in the supply chain sector.
An Oxford Said Business School alumna with a PhD Cdt. in Business, Strategy, and Enterprise from Gloucestershire University, Marianna is an influential public speaker and moderator, covering complex topics like IoT and blockchain in supply chain management, bridging the gap between technology and practical application.
Proposal 2: Alternative fuels for the maritime sector and beyond, based on desert-land farmed seaweed
Johannes Bochdalofsky
Johannes Bochdalofsky was born and raised in Germany, but moved to South Africa once he obtained his engineering degree. There he worked in port and coastal engineering and from there moved on to Kuwait, working as head of the marine department in Sabah al Ahmad Sea City.
He returned to South Africa in 2015 after working in salvage and shipbuilding in America and Europe as project manager.
In 2021 Johannes and his life partner Gcobisa founded SeaH4 to counteract the downward trending economic outlook of South Africa. He soon realised the global potential of SeaH4 and has since been working intensively in the African entrepreneurial space ad blue economy.
Meanwhile he maintains his role as consultant to the shipping industry, combining the two as far as possible.
The projects throughout his career are characterised as industry firsts, often greenfield and often exceeding 1B USD in budget.
Proposal 3: LifeLines: Empowering local communities through supply chain resilience
Sophie Punte
Sophie Punte is a sustainability innovator and network leader, and LifeLines is her new idea for innovative partnerships for sustainable supply chains.
Throughout her 30-year career she has focused on bringing industry, government and other stakeholders together to address common sustainability and climate challenges. Sophie founded Smart Freight Centre and led a multistakeholder partnership to develop the ‘GLEC Framework’ – a global standard methodology used by companies worldwide to calculate and report emissions from logistics supply chains.
As Managing Director of Policy at We Mean Business Coalition she spearheaded climate policy advocacy campaigns at COP, G20 and other fora backed by hundreds of businesses.
Previously, she headed Clean Air Asia, and worked with the United Nations and KPMG, in both developed and developing countries. Sophie is supervisory board member of the truck EV charging company Milence, sits on DHL’s Sustainability Advisory Council and the WEF Global Future Council on Clean Air.
Proposal 4: Smart Ports 5G Technology and Renewal Energy
Millie Ogden
Millie Ogden is a UN SDG Ambassador and Next Generation Leader Fellow. She is the founder and CEO of 3 Link, an ISP licensee in Vanuatu, and works closely with enterprises, clinics, schools, farmers, and the government to provide broadband connectivity to the last mile. 3 Link will roll out disruptive 5G Fixed Wireless Access in 2025.
Millie serves on the board of directors of the Vanuatu Rural Development Bank and Kacific (Vanuatu) Ltd.
Millie is the Vanuatu Trade Commissioner to California. She is Digital Technology Advisor to the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network (CBWN). Millie began her career in Silicon Valley as a Data Financial Analyst at Barra Morgan Stanley MSCI and at the Boston Consulting Group’s ValueScience Center.
She holds a BA in economics from UC Berkeley. She speaks five languages: English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Bislama. Her curiosity drives her to discover innovative and sustainable solutions through technological advancements.
Proposal 5: USYNCRO, a Blockchain and AI platform to impulse Digital Logistics Corridors worldwide
Cristina Martín
Cristina Martin is a chemical engineer with an executive MBA and a certified freight forwarder and air freight transport operator.
She founded the freight forwarding company ATML 18 years ago and is CEO of Usyncro, a multimodal solution recognized as the Best Tradetech Platform 2023 by the international organization Trade Finance Global.
Cristina is committed to the digital transformation of the logistics sector by using digital corridors from the board of key associations in freight forwarding (Ateia Madrid) and Air Freight (MadCargo).
She is a member of the board of the ALASTRIA network and the Blockchain Cluster of the Community of Madrid; and she is part of the Technology Commission of ALACAT, the Latin American and Caribbean Freight Forwarders association, to promote digital collaboration between Europe and the American continent.
Usyncro has just opened its new office in the United States and has more than 20 distributors network around the world.
Proposal 6: Solar-powered locker-sized booths for small-scale cross-border traders
Tadiwanashe Mutibura
Tadiwanashe Mutibura is a treasury and structured finance trainee ·at InnBucks MicroBank Limited, Harare, Zimbabwe.
She graduated from Stellenbosch University in South Africa with a BCom(Law)
A super random fact about Tadiwanashe is that she loves watching documentaries on whales and maritime vessels despite living in the teapot-shaped landlocked country in Southern Africa.
This curiosity stems from her love of reading and simply having the opportunity to explore other lifestyles and cultures through the stories of those who have experienced it firsthand.
Curiosity aside, she is passionate about African development and the potential for growth especially through the lenses of trade and the impact that it can have not only on our economies but on the daily lives of all the people involved.
The jury was composed of Jan Hoffmann, Sabrina Ielmoli, Hidenobu Tokuda, Tomasz Kulaga, Bismark Sitorus, Pamela Ugaz and Maria Bolotnikov. Proposals were evaluated in accordance with the following criteria:
- Level of innovation
- Feasibility
- Scalability
- Sustainability
- Resilience
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The Supply Chain Innovation Challenge is an integral part of the Global Supply Chain Forum, scheduled to take place in Bridgetown, Barbados from 21-24 May 2024.
Related
Topic
![Transport, logistics and trade facilitation](/sites/default/files/2020-07/image/topic_transport_logistics.jpg)
Programme
- Transport infrastructure and services
- Trade facilitation
- Empowerment Programme for National Trade Facilitation Committees
- Transport policy and legislation
- Reform tracker
- TrainForTrade
- Customs automation - ASYCUDA
- Climate change adaptation and maritime transport
Contact
Pamela UGAZ
Maria BOLOTNIKOV
GSCF Secretariat