AI meal planner among winners of London’s poverty prevention challenge

London has announced seven companies that will receive funding of up to £50,000 (US$64,242) each to develop their solutions to address the cost-of-living crisis.

The winning proposals include artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help with cost-efficient meal planning and provide language and digital literacy support for refugees.

The companies were selected through an open innovation call focused on poverty prevention. City Hall’s Challenge LDN open innovation service identifies priority challenges that need fresh thinking and invites organisations to co-design solutions that have potential to scale. It particularly seeks new approaches that use data and technology.

The poverty prevention challenge, in partnership with the London borough of Barnet, was launched in January to tackle the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, provide Londoners with financial management resources, and improve the way the public sector identifies and supports people at risk of falling into financial hardship.

According to data from the Mayor’s Office, 54 percent of Londoners are either ‘financially struggling’ or ‘just about managing’.

Winners

One of the selected proposals was Mealia, an AI tool to create personalised meal plans and select the cheapest ingredients from the supermarket.

Another, Mortar Works, is described as a “tenancy sustainment tool” designed to support renters in or at risk of rent arrears and protect them from needing high-cost debt.

Mendee offers AI-powered tools to help non-profit organisations support refugees with language and digital literacy.

SuperFi’s digital tools help people to manage their finances in one place and access services and resources most suited to their needs.

Other winners were CARD-HR, which provides free legal services to residents and free management and admin services to voluntary organisations in Southeast London. MatchingMind uses AI to match people with the right mental health therapist. The Time to Spare platform allows charities to share their information with councils to target support.

New approaches

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “The cost of living crisis continues to hit Londoners hard and these innovative projects will help thousands who are struggling to make ends meet in the wake of soaring energy costs and food prices.

“Local government and community groups are working tirelessly to support residents during the cost of living crisis. But as a city we must continue to innovate and AI and new digital services have a real role to play in assisting that.

“Supporting open calls to London’s tech sector means we can apply new approaches to the challenges people face. By working this way, we can break down silos, collaborate with new partners and build a better, safer, fairer and more prosperous London for everyone.”

Challenge LDN has invested more than £2.5 million in start-ups and small businesses since 2018 through more than 20 challenges. Other challenges have focused on areas such as air quality, COVID-safe travel, high streets, and the gig economy.

Theo Blackwell, Chief Digital Officer for London, said: “Over the past five years, setting open calls – or challenges – like this has allowed us to be bolder and work more collaboratively with London’s start-ups and scale ups.

“Seeking and testing new ideas and learning from others is an important part of London’s new way of working.”