ARMAN HEZARKHANI: Hi, everyone.
The mission of this year's Google Developer Student Club
Solution Challenge is to solve for one or more
of the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals
using Google technology.
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Citing the official United Nations website,
these goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more
sustainable future for all.
They address the global challenges we face,
including poverty, inequality, climate change,
environmental degradation, peace, and justice.
During this video, I will show you
how you can research these goals and brainstorm
ideas for your solution challenge project.
So, starting with the official UN SDG site,
the first thing I suggest you do is click on each of the goals
and read the challenges each goal faces.
For example, goal 1, no poverty.
This page will give you a good primer
to the challenges we face on our road to no poverty.
And down at the bottom of the page,
you can take a look at the facts and figures
and the breakdown of targets defined for each goal.
There's also an infographic you can check out
to get a high-level overview of the current state of things
as it relates to the specific goal.
Go over the rest of the goals to get familiarized with them
and see if any ideas come to mind about solutions
you can build using technology.
If ideas do arise, write them down
to brainstorm further later.
Another great site that can really
help you generate solution ideas is
DIAL, which stands for Digital Impact Alliance.
We're going to focus on two tabs, SDGs and the Building
Blocks, but I urge you to look at the other tabs.
They're just as useful for your ideation stage.
OK, so let's look at the SDGs tab
and take a look at goal 2, zero hunger.
This goal has eight targets, which
help you focus on solving a certain aspect of the goal.
For example, target 1, which summarizes as end hunger
by ensuring access by all people to good, healthy food all year
round.
OK, so immediately, ideas start to spark.
Maybe you can build a charity app
that either accepts donation-safe healthy food
or accepts monetary donations dedicated to providing food.
Or maybe you can build a volunteering platform
that brings people together to help the community at risk.
Brainstorm with your team and see
what aspects of these problems you are familiar with.
Or maybe you have access to communities who
are dealing with the challenge.
Having personal knowledge of a problem
will allow you to design solutions which are far more
effective and easier to adopt.
Now, let's take a look at goal 10, reduce inequalities.
Target 1, achieve and sustain income growth
for the bottom 40% of the population at a rate
higher than the national average.
What a well-defined target.
OK, so now you can start brainstorming again
on how you can achieve progress through technology here.
Maybe you can build an app or a platform
that educates people on financial and saving
strategies.
Or maybe you can help small businesses
grow through education apps or e-commerce and marketing
apps that are specific to your community.
For example, in my community, the elderly struggle
with finding online educational content.
And I might consider building an elderly-friendly educational
platform.
This platform can potentially provide the elderly
with equal opportunities at learning new skills
and increasing their income.
You'll see that going through these web pages
will spark many ideas in your mind.
Write them down and discuss them with your team.
See which idea really strikes a chord with your ability
and your belief.
You'll be working on this for a while.
You want to solve a goal that you are passionate about
or that's really close to home.
In the next video in the series, I'll
be going through a demo case study.
I'll pick up an idea and simulate the steps my team
and I will take towards a successful demo submission.
I hope the United Nations' 17 sustainable development
goals inspire you to solve for your community
in a meaningful way.
We can't wait to see all of your demo submissions.
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