Disruptive technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) will enable organisations to deliver a million midday meals to schoolchildren in India, said a top official of software major Accenture.
According to IANS, Accenture Labs Managing Director Sanjay Podder in a statement said that the company has applied AI, IoT and block-chain to exponentially increase the number of midday meals served to children in state-run schools under ‘Million Meals’ project with NGO Akshaya Patra.
Block-chain is a distributed database that compiles a growing list of ordered records called blocks. The US-based Accenture collaborated with the city-based Akshaya Patra Foundation, which operates the government-funded MidDay Meal Scheme in state-run and state-aided schools, in implementing the novel project with new IT products and solutions.
He added that the project has also demonstrated how new technologies can help address challenges in mass meal production and delivery by revolutionizing supply chain and operations.
AI, IoT and block-chain were used in collecting school feedback, tracking food delivery, measuring the quantity of food, supplies to be purchased and monitoring meal production. The process enhancement has enabled the NGO to improve its auditing, attendance recording, invoicing, payments and food preparation, besides expanding production capacity and making a blueprint for operating other base kitchens.