SOS Labs was proudly presented at the SHINE Conference of the Human Flourishing Program by Nikolet Zwart and Dvorah Graeser. SHINE co-founders Eileen McNeely and Gregory Norris have done an incredible job in the last 10 years!

In the panel "Making Visible, the Invisible in Global Supply Chains" moderated by Emily Trant, Dvorah and Nikolet spoke about the possibilities of technology in the global vegetable seeds supply chain.

Since the panel had a duration of 1,5 hour, I had the opportunity to tell about the coming into being of SOS Labs, and, more importantly, what we envision for the future. Creating a new market, this time bottom up, and pre-competitive. Driven by youth from the global South, and enhancing the flourishing of hundreds of millions, primarily female, smallholders.

Dvorah performed two demo's for the AI tools we are currently co-creating within SOS Labs:

1 - LLMs for the least spoken African languages to enable farmers to interact with their phones, and via our blockchain with the global markets and learning infrastructure.
And
2 - a low cost innovative tool using camera's and Raspberry Pi's for phenotyping and knowledge transfer via AI.

Next week, Nikolet will be gladly following up with Gregory Norris in Amsterdam on the opportunities within SOS Labs for his handprint project, and for the SHINE objectives of human flourishing.


From the Harvard website

Founded in 2016, the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science aims to study and promote human flourishing, and to develop systematic approaches to the synthesis of knowledge across disciplines.
Many topics that are fundamental to human well-being such as happiness itself, virtue, religious community, meaning, and purpose have traditionally been viewed as principally falling within the purview of the humanities, often of philosophy or theology. However, a robust empirical research literature on these topics has now developed from sociology, political science, economics, education, psychology, medicine, public health, and other empirical sciences. The program’s research contributes to the broad question of how knowledge from the quantitative social sciences can be integrated with that of the humanities on questions of human flourishing and how best to carry out this synthesis of knowledge across disciplines. The program hopes to bring greater unity to the empirical social sciences and the humanities.

Giant Leap is the space where ideas evolve, where limiting beliefs and common dilemmas are transformed into something powerful and constructive. It is a unique space where one can be vulnerable and transparent about specific needs—in this case, those of African agriculture—in order to turn those low points into something potentially better. The key? Creativity.

At SOS Labs, we believe agriculture should adapt to the specific needs of each region. That’s why we held our first meeting with a group of seven African individuals who study or work at WUR. During this Giant Leap, we explored their limiting beliefs and some dilemmas, and based on them, we applied Quantum Creativity, a method that Jenny Elissen explains in her book From Big Ideas to Giant Leaps as:
Quantum creativity is the ability to connect that which seems impossible through creativity. It utilizes the visible, the unexpected, and the invisible.

For a few hours, the space was dedicated to co-creation, which ultimately resulted in two powerful manifestos for SOS Labs, specifically for the Biotech and Operational foundations.

​The Biotech Foundation dreams, by 2030, of testing, perfecting, and adapting phenotyping techniques, aiming to improve seeds, fertilizers, and biostimulants at a local level. It understands the Blockchain platform as a decentralized value transfer system, similar to how families care for each other and build community.

On the other hand, the Operational Foundation envisions, by 2030, co-creating—together with African farmers—a pilot plan on a 5,000-hectare farm with 34 smallholder cooperatives.

All of this was the result of a productive conversation with the Giant Leap participants, in which we discussed ideas such as how true value is not found in technology per se, but in how it helps reduce labor time and allows individuals to focus their attention on new endeavors, opening space for human flourishing. However, this cannot be achieved through technical knowledge alone. In fact, our conversation led us to the conclusion that if traditional or indigenous knowledge is integrated with technology, truly meaningful change can happen—especially considering the wealth of agricultural knowledge on the continent, along with its abundance of natural and climatic resources.
This brought us to one of the limiting beliefs shared by the group: the lack of literacy in many African regions. This belief was transformed when we recognized that, although many farmers may not have theoretical knowledge in classical terms, they possess deep, invaluable understanding of seeds, soil, land, and more.

The conclusion of this first Giant Leap is undoubtedly gratifying. In addition to the manifestos, I believe the encounter can be summarized in two main ideas:

First, we reaffirmed the importance of placing people at the center of the conversation. That is why, at SOS Labs, we are committed to using Blockchain as a tool for knowledge-sharing, ensuring that all parties benefit in the process.

Second, we confirme what Jenny Elssen states in her book:
This method suits a disruptive style of exchanging views. This leads to experiencing new creative realities and, for that reason, a better aligned decision making process.
This is just one of the moments in which we plant the seeds we hope to harvest in the years to come.
Good team!
​
Nikolet Zwart Jenny Elissen Samantha Forero Meneses Stellamaris Aju Marjan Frik

Jenny Elissen, Rudy Rabbinge, and Nikolet Zwart represented SOS Labs at the ISF Congress and performed a Giant Leap with the representatives of NGIN.