Recently, Dassault Systèmes was recognized as the world’s most sustainable company by Corporate Knights in the 2018 Top 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World index. The index is recognized globally as the gold standard for corporate sustainability analysis, with rankings based on various key performance indicators – including environmental, social, financial and innovation capacity – but also, as of this year, on the sustainability value of a company’s products.
Sustainability is a part of Dassault Systèmes’ corporate DNA, being at the center of its mission to harmonize product, nature and life. As a brand known for industrial optimization, DELMIA Quintiq fully embraced the mission with the launch of an internal initiative – the Sustainable Supply Chain Challenge (SSCC).
Rob van Egmond, DELMIA Quintiq CEO, said: “Our goal was to tap into the passion and knowledge of the entire organization and to focus it on how our software’s inherent capabilities could tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues. The result was an initiative which educated our workforce about sustainability and highlights the compatibility of sustainability, innovation and commercial success to the benefit of all. For DELMIA Quintiq, this program has resulted in some exciting sustainability avenues to pursue for our R&D team, and has enhanced our employees’ sense of pride that DELMIA Quintiq and Dassault Systèmes are leading the way on such an important topic for mankind.”
“Giving people the freedom to innovate and collaborate for a great purpose brings out some of the best ideas! It showcases the power of DELMIA Quintiq and what makes us special. ”
Jens Holm, Project Manager
Innovation, enthusiasm and heart Innovator Anil Rathi outlined four principles of successful competitive innovation. First, the competition has to be framed around a specific need. Additionally, the challenges in the competition must be broken up into manageable, implementable steps. Company resources and internal mentors also have to be present to guide participants, and lastly, value must be drawn not just from the end results, but the competition process itself. The DELMIA Quintiq SSCC adopted these principles as drivers of the initiative.
Fourteen teams participated in SSCC with the aim to build scalable and practical applications that contribute towards the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development (UNGGSD). Over 10% of DELMIA Quintiq’s employees directly contributed to these proposed applications, while the greater DELMIA Quintiq community were actively involved in the feedback and social voting process.
Lucas Florez, leader of the initiative explained: “The SSCC was framed as an innovation competition, but it soon proved to be something truly meaningful – a concerted effort to combine DELMIA Quintiq’s collective knowledge, drive and expertise to address some the world’s most pressing issues.”
The projects ranged from the pragmatic to the visionary. From reducing emissions and minimizing food waste to easing the refugee crisis and propelling sustainable agriculture, the participants of SSCC embraced the initiative with a high sense of innovation, enthusiasm and – above all – heart.
And the winners are… The winners were scored in two categories: one where the winners were determined by social voting within the DELMIA Quintiq community and another which was judged by a jury composed of academics, leading researchers in the field of sustainability and members of DELMIA Quintiq and Dassault Systèmes senior leadership.
While every project was valuable in its own right, two causes were clear favorites among the voters. The largest social vote was for a project focusing on making healthcare more accessible to all via better resource planning. The two projects that tackled food surplus redistribution at the city level in order to reduce food waste also proved popular with voters. This reaffirms DELMIA Quintiq employee’s strong affinity for this subject – as also demonstrated through DELMIA Quintiq’s collaboration with the World Food Programme.
For the jury, sustainability impact and business feasibility were the two main criteria for deciding the winning projects. Smarter healthcare planning was again a winner in this category, along with an initiative focused on crop planning for better yield and soil health. The top prize in this category was won by a team whose solution addressed logistics planning for electric-powered fleets.
Doing more, together While the team challenge has officially concluded, DELMIA Quintiq’s enthusiasm for sustainable solutions lives on. Several of the SSCC ideas will now be further developed and brought to market.
The Sustainable Supply Chain Challenge addressed 14 out of the 17 goals outlined in the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, proving once more that there is no challenge too complex for DELMIA Quintiq to solve through innovation and collaboration. DELMIA Quintiq will continue to shine a spotlight on sustainability and, together with our partners and customers, will continue to make the world a better place – one solution at a time.