The winners of the DHL Innovation Contest awarded

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DHL yesterday identified the winners of last year’s Innovation Contest and handed over the awards to the first- and second-place winners at the DHL Innovation Center. Being the first company in the industry to implement the well-known academic model “Open Innovation”, DHL aimed to gather new ideas, unusual solutions and environmentally friendly appliances with a focus on “City Logistics” from scientists, politicians, IT experts and other participants.

In total, 300 people from 170 countries submitted approximately 160 ideas during the six-week contest. Schmulik Goldfisher from Israel was a double winner, enjoying success in the categories “Green Cities” and “Digital Logistics.” The jury felt that the best idea in the category “Improving Cities Efficiency through Logistics” came from Felix Häser of Germany.

“This contest was a clear success. We were able to appeal to scientists, specialists and inventors all over the world who developed many promising new approaches. This also demonstrates how current the topic of city logistics is, since challenges and demands are growing along with the expansion of megacities as well as for logistics service providers,” says Petra Kiwitt, Executive Vice President of Solutions & Innovation at Deutsche Post DHL.

Collaborative Logistic Hubs

Felix Häser developed the so-called “collaborative logistics hubs”, which aims to reduce inner-city traffic. Here, a city defines transfer points which are built on the city limits. All delivery companies are obliged to approach them. At the transfer points the goods are consolidated and then transported by only one exclusive delivery company like DHL via electric vehicles to inner city recipients. Trips are kept to a minimum through efficient consolidation and intelligent route guidance, thereby reducing the traffic burden on inner cities. The jury evaluated Häser’s idea as “inspiring and scalable” and saw it as a “fundamental change from a push to a pull system.”

“Earn as you save program”

Schmulik Goldfisher’s idea “Earn as you save program” focuses on optimizing the driving behavior of delivery agents and carriers. A digital speedometer provides constant information – for example about the most efficient route, speed, acceleration – to drive as energy-efficient as possible. Attractive prizes could be used as an incentive for the most efficient driving style. The jury saw this idea as a good contribution for an individual CO₂ footprint assessment.

“The Ultimate Delivery Application” (TUDA)

The second award-winning idea from Schmulik Goldfisher – “The Ultimate Delivery Application” (TUDA) – looks at the interaction between DHL and its customers. Via the use of cloud computing and applications for smartphones or computers all relevant information is visible to both the customer and DHL. Access to this data is used to make delivery or pick-up of items more effective, for example through registration of pick-up times, re-routing of items to another address or preliminary notifications. The jury’s assessment: “An easy-to-implement, customer-oriented idea that rebundles and recombines important functionalities.”

The Open Innovation Contest was conducted via the Internet platform www.dhl.com/citylogistics-oi. The results and discussions are still available for viewing on the website.