Machine learning as a technology to make tailored solutions with greater impact in society

Focus Area

By using quantifiable data and relevant parameters Machine Learning can help you predict possible preferences, solutions and actions by individuals or groups. With this knowledge you can successfully tailor your solutions to meet the need of the individual or group. Just think the choices presented to you by Amazon, Netflix or Apple Music – “people who read what you are reading also likes this”. These choices are all generated by machines that have learned to distinguish the preferences from groups and/or individuals and in doing so present plausible choices to the user.

Challenge

Today a lot of resources, time and money are invested in improving education, health care or access to the job markets. It is a difficult task often delegated to individuals and the solutions are often based on the experience limited to the individual. Could we provide relevant data driven tools and insights that would improve the solutions for the individual as well as provide the different teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers with tools to optimize their use of resources?

We would like you to dive into the possibilities to enhance the effect and progression by pooling large amount of data to determine what type of teaching style would be relevant for the individual student, which treatment would be right for the individual patient, or the right type of efforts to get an unemployed person into a job. Or could you even design the right team of employees to solve a given problem in a company? By using relevant data, would it be possible to help the teacher, doctor, social worker, or management find the right solution to his or her problem?

In your approach you will have to address the following issues:

Business model: Who is the customer for your solution and what would be the business model?

Data security: How do you ensure the use of data is secure? The information and data is often under privacy acts, which means you have to consider how you will ensure the individuals’ right to privacy.

Pick a specific challenge and draft a concept that based in data solves the challenge.

E.g.:

One example of Machine Learning in the educational sector, where the School of One in NYC has created an algorithm that decides which learning style and what the individual student is to learn the following day. Learn more: izonenyc.org/initiatives/school-of-one/

In your solutions you must pay attention to the following:

• Pick a specific type of problem you want to address.
• Your solution must be founded in a sustainable business model.
• You are encouraged to be creative in the use of data sources – or invent your own if the utilization of data demands it.

Considerations

When we evaluate your solutions we will consider the following criteria:

• We are focused on originality.
• We are focused on a clear focus on challenge and business area.
• Consider who is customer vis-a-vis user of the solution and what benefits they have from buying/using the solution respectively.
• If you can produce materials (i.e. statements from users/professionals, potential customers, municipalities, reports, statistics, observations), which support your solution it will be evaluated positively.

HAVE A GREAT TIME!