Lufthansa Industry Solutions (LHIND) is supporting the Berlin-based impact start-up SPRK.global in building a global, digital trading platform for surplus food. In close cooperation with the actors in the supply chain, this collaboration is intended to enable a need-based and rapid redistribution or processing of surplus food that is perfectly edible. The aim is to eliminate global food overproduction and waste in the supply chain. This increases efficiency, saves resources and ultimately significantly reduces climate damage.
As one of Germany's largest IT service companies, it is important to us to contribute to a sustainable future. We therefore particularly support projects that have set themselves the same goal.
Jörn Messner
Managing Director
Lufthansa Industry Solutions
To redistribute food surpluses, SPRK.global relies on unique technology using artificial intelligence. This AI-powered trade and distribution platform connects participants in the supply chain and ensures efficient coordination between food supply and surplus as well as demand. It systematically considers commercial traders, processing plants, as well as community-based organizations as buyers.
Experts from LHIND are providing pro bono support in the further development of the AI-based platform."This system is based on an architecture called neural collaborative filtering, where our experts merge semantic information about products with historical transactions. The system can recommend potential customers based on products or vice versa. Further plans include recommending additional ingredients based on current inventory to create complete recipes," explains Susan Wegner, Vice President Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics at LHIND.
In cooperation with SPRK, LHIND and the CleanTech Hub, the caterer "Lufthansa Group Taste & More" added its own orange juice from rescued oranges to its range in spring 2022. The freshly squeezed orange juice consists of at least 30%, sometimes even 100%, oranges that come from surpluses in the SPRK partners' supply chain. Without SPRK's efforts to match oversupply with demand, those oranges would have ended up in the bin. With the sustainable use of oranges, Lufthansa Group Taste & More shows how overproduced food can be used and takes an important step towards more sustainability. Further projects, such as a fruit or vegetable smoothie of the day, are already being planned with the Lufthansa Group.
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