On 19 June, NN Group and JA Europe celebrated the global final of the Social Innovation Relay. Team Dynamite from Singapore won the eighth edition, with a one-stop mobile app that matches people with volunteers.
The Social Innovation Relay (SIR) is a JA Europe initiative supported by NN Group that challenges secondary school students to develop an innovative business concept to address a social need or challenge. More than 14,000 students and 250 NN Group volunteers from across 10 countries participated: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Singapore, and Spain.
Team Dynamite created an app called ‘HELP’, a free, one-stop mobile app that matches people who need help to volunteers in real time. Help could involve helping someone to run an errand, finding a missing person, or providing a listening ear. The app uses an algorithm to match requests to volunteers based on their location, interests, skills and time availability, creating a more inclusive society.
Fleur Hudig, Head of Corporate Citizenship, NN Group: ‘Through the Social Innovation Relay young people are provided with a unique learning experience that sparks their entrepreneurial spirit. It teaches them the day-to-day skills that are required in any job or business. It fits perfectly with the goal of NN Future Matters, our global community investment programme. As part of this programme we offer our talent, expertise and resources to help provide young people the relevant (financial) skills to create economic opportunities. We also believe the SIR offers our NN employees in the different markets a great opportunity to interact on societal challenges and help teenagers improve their problem solving skills in a fun and rewarding way.’
Watch Team Dynamite’s video.
