Name: 2023 NIU Business Olympics - Mobile Idea App Competition
Start: 2023-01-19T10:00:00.000-05:00
End: 2023-03-04T00:45:00.000-05:00
Location: 2023 NIU Business Olympics - Mobile Idea App Competition

Inspiration

We strive to use less energy, consume fewer unnecessary products, reduce our carbon footprint, and care for our natural ecosystems. Mobile apps can assist with getting recommendations, tracking habits, acquiring new information, or developing new behaviors for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Currently available apps can serve as examples and guide your ideation towards a greener, more environmentally friendly life.

iRecycle, the mobile app from Earth911 that helps you pinpoint the nearest available recycling options for specific items. Covering recycling for more than 350 materials can lead you to more than 1,600,000 ways to recycle.
Buying new products puts a burden on the environment. In addition to the resources required to manufacture new items, we also have to consider the resources spent (and carbon created) by transporting new products to the store where we shop. But with the Olio app, you’ll be able to share and borrow items with other people in your community, reducing the number of new consumer purchases. Share things like food, cleaning products, tools, and more.
The Oroeco app is designed to help individuals better understand their impact on climate change. With Oroeco, you can estimate your carbon footprint based on your lifestyle and evaluate your overall climate impact. From there, you can analyze all your daily habits, from traveling to eating, and make use of actionable tips from the app to make improvements.
The Water Footprint Calculator is an app that helps you understand how everyday actions — from washing dishes to buying groceries — contribute to your water footprint. Once you’ve calculated your footprint, you’ll get useful tips to help you reduce your water consumption. The website also features educational resources for teachers and students.
Too Good to Go. The service connects more than 46 million people with leftover food items from businesses like restaurants, supermarkets, and cafes. By connecting people with food that would otherwise get thrown out, this app has helped people save more than 98 million meals to date, drastically reducing food waste.
Are you aware of how much your food affects climate change? GreenChoice, allows you to set your shopping values, dietary preferences, and other parameters to get recommendations for green, environmentally friendly choices. You can compare different food products across different grocery stores (as well as online) and even build and manage your shopping lists for convenience.
How much junk mail does your home receive per day? Chances are that all this paper ends up as waste. But with PaperKarma, you can put a stop to it. Use the app to take a photo of whatever junk mail you no longer want to receive and take yourself off the company’s mailing list permanently.
Do you wish you could compost your food waste, but you have no room for a compost bin? ShareWaste helps you find neighbors who will take your extra food scraps and compost them or feed them to their worms or animals (like backyard chickens). Whether you are an individual or represent a community garden or a cafe, the ShareWaste app helps you keep food waste (and other organics) out of the landfill.
Going vegetarian or vegan isn’t for everyone, but you should know that it can make a positive environmental impact. Cutting out meat and dairy products from your daily diet could reduce your carbon footprint by 73%. If you decide to make this lifestyle change, you can use HappyCow to make it easier. The app helps you find vegan- and vegetarian-friendly restaurants worldwide.

Tools and Technologies

Miro online collaborative whiteboard platform to bring teams together. Useful for ideation, task tracking, digital boards, mock-ups, and wireframes. Library of templates freely available. Sign up for a free account and learn more about it by viewing Miro tutorials.
Balsamiq is a rapid low-fidelity wireframing tool that reproduces the experience of sketching on a notepad or whiteboard. It enables you to focus on content and structure; it facilitates idea generation. Learn more about Balsamiq and wireframing at balsamiq.com