A summary of my first attempt at a hackathon

What is a hackathon?

To investigate a certain problem and develop a solution within a limited time frame. Offers free food!

What is the solution?

• Greenwashing AI fact-check agent

What is the topic of the project?

• Sustainable decision making for consumers and investors

What is the specific domain of the project?

• Greenwashing

What is the background of the project?

• Greenwashing is a common issue nowadays. Due to the requirement of sustainable development, many companies try to make their products look more sustainable than they actually are.

What is the motivation behind the project?

• The project aims to help consumers and investors make more sustainable decisions by providing a platform that evaluates the sustainability of products and companies.

What techniques are used in the project?

• LLM, OCR, Information Summarisation, Hidden Information Prediction, User Action Data Collection

What is a use case for the project?

• Users may be attracted by eco-labels but not understand their meaning. For example, a water bottle may not be sustainable if not recycled properly. By scanning the packaging, users can get information on how to recycle it properly.

What is the solution for consumers?

• Address the difficulty and efficiency of researching to evaluate the sustainability of products and companies.

What is the solution for investors and manufacturers?

• Collect and provide user action data that contributes to the sustainability of products, which would be useful for investors and manufacturers to fulfill ESG requirements.

What should be anticipated when pitching to a mentor?

• Show data to prove the situation is serious and that your solution is unique.
• Focus on a small use case to emphasize the ability of the hack.
• Focus on the scalability of the project.
• Highlight the techniques used in the project.
• Consider a 2B (business-to-business) and 2C (business-to-consumer) business model.

What is the problem statement (P)?

• Do you know many products look more sustainable than they actually are?

What is the solution statement (S)?

• We accelerate the fact-checking process for sustainable decision making.

What is the impact statement (I)?

• A transparent and healthy market

What have I learned?

• Life cycle assessment (LCA): A technique to assess the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life.
• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG): A set of standards for a company's operations that socially conscious investors use to screen investments.
• Sustainable development goals (SDGs): A collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030.