Students from the innovation master’s programme receive prestigious award

In February, the Swedish Institute hosted the digital Hackathon. An event with the purpose to design, test and execute ideas focusing on mobility. Linnaeus University’s students from the Innovation through Business, Engineering and Design, master’s programme, received The Hackathon Spirit award. Team BED @ LNU received the award because they were actively engaged in the challenge, collaborating with others, and had an overall positive energy. The students that were part of the winning team were Astrid Cox, Eliot Bota, Erik Ström, Jonas Thordeman Andersson, and Varun Kishore.

- We were quite active during the event, participating in mini challenges and connecting with other participants, organisers, and partner companies. We threw ourselves entirely into the hack over the weekend and had a lot of fun doing it. This award is an acknowledgement of that effort, says Astrid Cox, team leader of the group.

The Hackathon had several different challenges and the team felt that their skill set was particularly suited to the IKEA challenge of “VIP Truck Drivers”. The task was to come up with solutions that could improve the safety of truck drivers in India. 

- The challenge was put out by IKEA Logistics and Supply Chain Operations. IKEA recognises that the truck drivers are a crucial part of their value chain and of utmost importance. Therefore, they wanted the teams to ideate on a solution that could address the major safety issues these truck drivers face every day on India's road, says Varun Kishore, one of the team members. 

Finding a solution – Vip pit stops

In order to tackle the challenge and come up with a solution, the team used many of the same methods that they use on the Innovation master’s programme.

- Working with multidisciplinary talent, we followed the problem-solving cycle from problem definition to analysis and diagnosis, stopping just after solution design. We researched, discussed, collaborated, and laughed our way to an understanding of the problem. For us, it was clear that the most common causes for accidents on the road in India are reckless driving, inattentive driving, and other drivers on the road, Astrid explains. 

Their solution to address driver safety in India works on different levels, using positive reinforcement. The first step addresses individual drivers by promoting good resting behavior. The premise is to develop a network of truck stops across India with access to basic amenities and a place to take a break. The second step works on the corporate level, continuing work with driver rest behavior, and also tackling scheduling stress. The final phase focuses on the national level.

- We want to create a national standard of using the app and maintaining driving logs for all trips. We see this as a way to drive economic growth, improve work conditions, and increase public health and safety. For us, truck driving in India was a whole new world to immerse ourselves in. For instance, how the profession is perceived in India and what challenges the average “desi” truckers are faced with on a day-to-day basis was really eye-opening, Astrid concludes.