New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Project category

Identify the award category for which this project is being submitted
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Email user
andreas.gasco@gmail.com

Basic information
Project title
iThanks

Full Project Title
iThanks - Digital assistant and food waste controller

Please provide a short, catchy description of your project to be used in communication towards the public.
iThanks is the first digital assistant that solves the problem of food waste in supermarkets and groceries stores.
For UN, food waste is the problem number one for CO2 pollution, water consumption, plastic waste and money loss in stores.
iThanks give an answer to all these problem controlling the deadline of food products on shelfs and give to stores an important assistant to save money, food, time work and carry the food distribution to 4.0 saving the planet.

What was the geographical scope of your project?
National

Where was your project implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Italy

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
Piedmont, Comune di Torino, MIP, University of Polenzo, Lombardy, Veneto, Lazio, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your project benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your project won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Is your project fully completed
Yes

Please indicate a date (mm/yy)
2022-08-31

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual in partnership with other persons
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project).
- First name: Andrea
  Last name: Gasco
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Italy
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Corso Molise 57/G
  Town: Torino
  Postal code: 10151
  Country: Italy
  Direct Tel: +39 347 343 9306
  E-mail: andreas.gasco@gmail.com
  Website: https://www.ithanks.net/index.php/it/
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/ithanks.italia
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @ithanks #ithanks #sostenibilità #sustainable #ecotech #greentech #nofoodwaste #startup #innovazione #innovation #ecotech
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/ithanks_official/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @ithanks_official #ithanks #sostenibilità #sustainable #ecotech #greentech #nofoodwaste #startup #innovazione #innovation #ecotech
- URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/70918523/admin/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): @ithanks #ithanks #sostenibilità #sustainable #ecotech #greentech #nofoodwaste #startup #innovazione #innovation #ecotech
In case my project is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my project in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Social Media

Description of the project
Please provide a summary of your project.
iThanks is the first assistant for the automatic control of deadlines in the GDO, it solves the problem of overdue, improves store performance, reduces losses and helps the environment.
iThanks is the first digital assistant for large-scale distribution, usable via smartphone or tablet, which automates the expiry control process, designed for supermarkets and shops, but also, beyond the sector, for pharmacies and parapharmacies, shops and food chains for animals, chains with the need for deadline control and hospitals.
The aim is to digitize and automate the sector, proposing itself as pioneers of GDO 4.0, with the aim of improving the performance of the points of sale, reducing food waste and therefore the economic losses due to it, improving the quality of work and reduce the times due to checks, thus solving the problem of expired food and consequently also reducing CO2 emissions due to this.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words.
No food waste

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
sustainability

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
automation

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
better work experience

Please indicate the main themes of your project with key words
analytics

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
The benefits of using iThanks:

1. Time savings for checking deadlines.
iThanks reduce by more than 80% the time for deadline checking per month. Actually, this kind of operation is enterally done manually and it needs a checking of 2 or 3 times per week by the personnel wasting a lot of time.
In addition, iThanks, revolutionize the working method because the app will alert the personnel what product is in expiring and in which section is.

2. Specific economic losses monitoring due food waste.
Thanks to the analytics iThanks process, which until now was impossible to obtain, it is possible to control a single product, a group of products, a sector or the entire store, identifying which products generate most loss, so as to improve performances.

3. Reduction food waste: more than 50% in only 3 month.
Thanks to automatic food deadline of iThanks, it is possible to know in advance which product are expiring due to plan commercial action and measures.

4. Waste reduction: plastic, Water, CO2 and paper
In only three months, iThanks reduce almost the 50% of food waste, helping the store, the business and the planet too.
We can reduce CO2 pollution due to food waste to 60% and water consumption. In addition plastic waste and paper due to food waste.

5. We can change the distribution of food, giving a better work experience, increase the sustainability and reduce the money loss.

In other words we develop one of the most important human field in our cities.

iThanks can be implemented in pharmacies, drug store, pet food store and hospital.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
Our solution combines 6 functions in 1 and combines technology (AI, ML) as a digital assistant to environmental sustainability and human development, without forgetting economic growth.
More and more people today are attracted and interested in sustainable and "green" solutions, however asking that they are also functional to improve life.
In addition, with our solution, we are solving a series of problems that are deeply felt today and are at the top of the UN 2030 agenda.

a lot of feedback are given to users. Here just some e.g.:

user 1: "fantastic tech, I work very well I am more happy and I work very fast!"
user 2: "nice solution for my work. In this way I can take under control all the products!"
user 3: "fantastic! Now i reduce the food waste and I save the environment"

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context.
With these solution everyone can use it and do the work more easy and fast, whiteout social walls.
This solution allows to all workers to access the control system with no problem and any knowledge.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project
Having a smart places where buy food, that are very focused on food waste without any other expensive solution.
Citizens can buy food not expired, living in a city that reduce food waste and pollution or plastic wastage.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the project. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was.
Local region helped us to develop the project to Business plan and other governments stakeholders rewarded us as one of the best solution of the area or of Italy.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your project. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was.
Tech, Ai, automation, Distribution, food and sustainability
The tech and automation allow to automate the process of control of food waste and food deadline.
In this way all data gained allow to increase the green and eco performance.
That's not all. In addition work process become very easy for humans using this technology giving to work process a clearly effort.

Please give information on the results, outcomes and impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for. This includes also benefits from the project for direct and indirect beneficiaries
The main benefit are the result that our partner achieved using iThanks.
All the stores increase the performance to 23%, reducing money loss to 50% in only 3 months.
Reducing food waste and wrong orders and increasing the performance with analytics, store can save work places and work time.
(The average is 2000 euros loss for fresh area per store of middle dimension. Thanks to us now the average is 40 euros after 3 months of use)

In addition to all these, the stores become sustainable for real, because we can reduce to 60% CO2 emission in 4 months and plastic waste to 25%.
Not for last the water consumption derived form food waste, saving a lot of water each month.

Please provide documents showing the results, outcomes and impacts of your project
PDF
PDF
- pdf-1-27957.pdf
Please highlight the innovative character of the project, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the project
In this context, two years ago, an innovative startup was created in Italy, iThanks, which aims to solve the problem of food waste in retail and beyond, by helping businesses that handle products that may expire (supermarkets, shops, restaurants , etc.) to reduce the waste they generate, through control of the products themselves, in order to then be able to allocate them to a sale below cost or to humanitarian associations.
How it Works?
The most important technological component of iThanks is given by the AI engine, based on Machine learning algorithms, which is what "guides" the operators and gives suggestions on which products to check, which are the probabilities of expiry, and by predictive indications on possible future deadlines.

The Machine Learning Engine is a fundamental component for iThanks as it suggests accurately, selecting through selection attributes (department, category, brand or specific product) which products are most likely to expire and therefore need to be checked and managed.
The process generates app notifications and therefore becomes an "avatar" that joins the user who uses it, helping him thanks to his intelligence, to operate better, reducing work and improving efficiency: this makes iThanks a digital assistant.
As a necessary note, it should be added that iThanks is a newly conceived intelligent system, designed for the future, in which multiple solutions are combined into one and multiple areas and fields are combined to ensure a horizontal and vertical solution at the same time: in other words, iThanks combines technology and sustainability to solve social, economic and environmental problems, guaranteeing the multidisciplinarity of a system that is instead unique.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your project.
The most important technological component of iThanks is given by the AI engine, based on ML algorithms, which is what "guides" the operators and gives suggestions on which products to check, which are the probabilities of expiry, and by predictive indications on possible future deadlines.
The ML Engine is a fundamental component for iThanks as it suggests accurately, selecting through selection attributes (department, category, brand or specific product) which products are most likely to expire and therefore need to be managed.
Our solution combines 6 functions in 1 and combines technology (AI, ML) as a digital assistant to environmental sustainability and human development, without forgetting economic growth.
More and more people today are attracted and interested in sustainable and "green" solutions, however asking that they are also functional to improve life.
In addition, with our solution, we are solving a series of problems that are deeply felt today and are at the top of the UN 2030 agenda.
our solution is designed precisely to be used by anyone as well as being a fundamental solution also to protect jobs or make work accessible to any category.
In addition, the solution determines an economic situation that guarantees the protection and dignity of work.

Please describe which elements of your project could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and context. This may involve for example aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings etc.
our technology can be implemented in other field like Hospital, store, pet food, drugstores, and so on.
In this way we can give a solution in other sectors and for more products, like drugs or pet food.
For analytics we can helps universities, governments and data companies because we can provide data about food, CO2 , water and others derived form distribution channel, very useful even for brands productors.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addresses by providing local solutions
The problem of food waste in the world is a topic that is becoming increasingly important and affects all countries of the globe and all people, as it involves every community and society as well as having a global impact on the climate, the territory, and the economy of all countries of the world.
According to the Food Waste Index Report of the UNEP (UN), the Earth.org portal, the Food Loss Index report of the FAO and the WRAP organization have estimated that more than 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away every year, that is 1/3 of all the food produced on the planet.
The problem of food waste, even if underestimated, is however the main responsible for other serious global problems, such as deforestation, water waste and consumption, CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases, plastic pollution in the seas and not as well as other equally serious, such as the waste of paper and other materials used for the production and packaging of food, energy production and land use.
Furthermore, the problem of waste and mismanagement of food resources affects two other very important problems: world hunger and economic losses due to food being thrown away.

We answer to 10 of 17 goals of UN agenda.
We want to reduce food waste in distribution, giving a solution that save money and food at the same time.
In this way we can introduce the first greentech solution that give an effort to economy and to the environment.
Please attach at least 6 high resolution images (or other types of visual representations, if images are not possible) to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
- iThanks green en.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the project and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their projects, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted project, is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes