GCCO: Global Coastal Community Outreach

An online platform for coastal communities to discuss, share, and observe different methods to effectively adapt to rising sea levels.

   Many times, smaller communities feel like they have limited resources or simply not enough voice in their political arenas to stir up desired changes in order to solve their rising sea level problems while large, industrialized cities are greeted right and left with different contracts by construction companies to propose ways to solve these same issues. This solution is meant to help both communities, large and small, and to ensure that all communities by water receive the concentration and effort that they need in order to solve their problems and ensure that their communities will adapt as the world's climate changes to a more unpredictable one.

   Our solution is a website that would enable practically everyone involved in a coastal community and its environment, from the local government to private corporations to research institutions, in order to share, discuss, and collaborate on projects proactively and with the assistance and support of others in order to resolve the many issues that these cities by large bodies of water will face caused by rising sea levels. 

   On the more technical aspect side, this means developing a website where engineers could upload interactive 3D models and blueprints of innovative dams, tunnels, etc. to share and get reviewed by fellow members of the community about their design. This website will let legislators discuss openly with their community about whatever they want to discuss regarding their efforts to solve whatever problem there is. The website will build a multitude of regional and global databases packed with a plethora of information given by a diverse range of research institutes that would combine with innovative mapping elements including Geographic Information System (GIS) as well as other data management services to help private companies understand what services they can offer to coastal communities to assist them with coping with high sea levels. Various other features could be added, such as a  a medium where researches look to the private sector to expand their mission even further.

This solution will change the world by making it easier than ever for the ingredients of the implementation of a new idea to become tangible results that would enable coastal populations all over the world to solve issues that matter to them with those who are willing to offer assistance. In the long run, this solution can be implemented beyond just community concerns. This solution eventually would use the platform to help restore and preserve local ecosystems, develop sustainable ocean economies, and even energy production with the help of the aforementioned diversity of members on the platform. Looking at the solution itself, it can be also observed how cost-effective such a solution as this one is since the platform would be nearly entirely digitized while still affecting a larger amount of the world compared to targeting one specific demographic.

   As stated, the solution itself is a web platform. However, the solution is innovative thanks to the new application it offers to many previously uncorrelated aspects of technology.

   In one case, this website would embrace the useful Geographic Information System mapping technology with 3D rendering software along the lines of Google Sketch-Up and Blender to help engineers and researchers develop projects that would survive generations in that location.

The system is innovative because it offers a wide array of tools for any member of the world who wishes to help their community adapt to rising sea levels.

Without the technological tools provided through the site, the whole platform would become useless and the equivalent of an online text-only forum. 

Our solution is in essence a high-tech version of a department store. We ourselves only host the products that we want to provide to communities that need them.

This entire solution runs on the technological tools that have been or have just been implemented in order to ensure that communities in of need help, get the assistance with the abundant technological resources.

Currently, this solution is only an idea. Therefore, the next twelve months bringing lots of tangible elements.

This means having a working prototype of the website within the first three to six months. Then, marketing our services to the private sector, research institutes, and to coastal communities to establish proof-of-concept for the following three months. The last three months would consist of leaving the platform open to all researchers, corporations, and other communities and have them actively pursue their goals on the platform.

One of the best aspects of this solution is how it will from the start have the ability to attract people and industries from all around the world. 

However, over the coming years, scaling needs to be done to ensure that the resources the solution is offering are still current and reliable. This means continuing the search for research institutes. In order to attract more corporations and research, competitions could be hosted on the platform as well, grants would be given to help with research or with the construction of a physical project in a coastal area.

The initial idea of the solution is for it to be made accessible online as a website. Those who participate will thus will only need to have internet access in order to contributing.

In terms of actual deployment, the site will initially be kept accessible to certain corporations, researchers, and cities, all of various sizes to test the system until the tweaks (there are always tweaks) are made to accept an even larger sample size until the website becomes truly open to all.

To retain users, the platform would ensure that resources, including data, are up to date and reliable.

This solution is currently an idea, so there is no number of people currently being serviced.

Again, since this is currently just an idea, there are no people being currently served.

However, by the end of the twelve months, as outlined in our goals, the whole platform would be open to all. The reason why I believe this solution is capable of going from idea to public release in one year is because of my confidence in the lack of difficulty it will be to find willing researchers, communities, and corporations who would want to be involved in such a rewarding and beneficial environment.

As this solution is still an idea, the first step would be to first create a prototype of the solution in order to demonstrate it to interested parties. Through such outreach, I believe that this solution will be able to speak for itself and gain the necessary support in order to gain traction and become something bigger to a point where demonstrating the solution is no longer necessary.

Currently, the plan is to offer this platform free to all participants of the service. However, in order to keep the solution running, the website could offer these resources in the form of 'packages'. For example, a simple citizen of a coastal community could use the free resources for whatever purpose they wish while a corporation looking to get contracts would pay for a 'package' that would provide them extra resources that would help them to find good locations and find interested customers. On the flip side, a researcher could be paid for publishing their findings on the site.

Although this is just an idea, Solve's entire purpose to help bring solutions to important issues is why I am applying to Solve.

My solution would grow quicker thanks to Solve since the entire solution itself rests on support from the private sector and researchers. Such resources are what makes Solve an incredible opportunity and it is why my solution would be advanced the furthest in a shorter time frame with Solve rather than approaching these same communities differently. 

There are two clear barriers that need to be hurdled over in order to get from idea to reality.

1. Building Platform: Since this is currently only an idea, an actual site that is capable of providing all the services that were mentioned earlier needs to be made. Solve can help by establishing connections with technologies that need to be added to the website.

2. Gaining Support: The platform is not functional without an active community. Solve can really help in this step since they have well-known connections to just about any branch of research and corporate field that exists.