[LINK] Students find a better way to get food aid to needy

[David Boxall]

I'd have thought something like this would have been done before. 
Evidently not.

 From 
<http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/students-find-a-better-way-to-get-food-aid-to-needy-20120429-1xszl.html>
> ENDING world hunger may not be your average student project, but three University of NSW undergraduates are working on technology that could help provide a solution.
>
> They have developed a prototype distribution and logistics system for efficient delivery of food and aid supplies to charities, developing countries and disaster zones - and have caught the interest of organisations such as FoodBank Australia, Red Cross and Action Against Hunger.
>
> Brad Lorge, a software engineering and commerce student, Aimee Lowth, who is studying software engineering and biomedical engineering, and a computer science student, Ben Wright, have entered their project, Enough, in the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
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> Inspired by the United Nations' millennium development goals, the competition this year challenges students to imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.
>
> More than 300,000 students from more than 100 countries have entered. Australia's winning team will be announced on Wednesday and the global finals will be in Sydney in July.
>
> The University of NSW trio, Team Confufish, devised a system to make the delivery of food to needy communities more efficient by centralising and co-ordinating distribution.
>
> Mr Lorge said distribution, not supply, was the biggest problem for charities. "They have more than enough food to feed everyone. They just can't move it to the people."
>
> The team is developing a platform that enables different organisations to "distribute things as one giant interconnected network, rather than individual operations", Mr Lorge said.
>
> The platform, which will be free and open to users, will reduce freight costs and could be rapidly adapted to meet the different needs of communities and changing situations on the ground.
>
> "As we developed it we realised that anything - medicine, supplies, food, clothing - could [be transported]," Ms Lowth said. "We've tried to use cheap and accessible technology to make it easier for the people actually using it. All you need … is a web browser, be that on a computer or on a phone."
>
> FoodBank Australia sees "huge potential" in the project, its business and communications manager, Sarah Pennell, said.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  Any given program,
                                |  when running correctly,
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  is obsolete.
                                |       --Arthur C. Clarke