Web technologies

Web-based technologies, combined with insights from economic theory, are powerful tools to achieve drastic improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness and inclusivity of existing supply chain processes and quality assurance processes. In many cases they even enable achievement of market-based or information-sharing platforms that would otherwise be unachievable.

Heuris was started with a focus on using web-based technologies to enable achievement of new approaches to rural development programs, agro-food supply chain systems, and open market approaches to quality assurance for food products, agricultural supply chains and environmental investments/actions. Our focus on economic innovation to achieve a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world is strongly based on the use of web-technologies and their ability to improve information transmission and payment/assurance approaches that are simply unachievable in paper-based and cash-based systems.

Certification, quality assurance, provenance, and traceability concerns have grown in importance in supply chains over the last 20 years. For example, standards and certification for agro-food products help ensure minimum food safety and quality requirements or can signal ethical or sustainable traits to consumers. Certification has grown rapidly to provide assurance over ESG objectives and provide consumers a means to differentiate products with credence ethical or environmental traits. Traceability is increasingly viewed as critical in communicating ethical targets associated with food production and provenance assurance provides consumers with the ability to make informed choices around food sourcing and production methods. Underpinning these standards and certification are assurance frameworks that outline the methods, activities, and reporting to meet certification and standard requirements. Web technologies provide for unique approaches to solving key information transmission and procurement problems associated with quality assurance. We combine insights from economic theory with practical knowledge around supply chain operations and web-development expertise to offer innovative and user-friendly solutions to quality assurance in agro-food systems.

• Similarly, web-technologies can provide for achievement of new approaches to:
• Achieving inclusivity in high-value supply chain procurement programs
• Creation of open-market systems for sustainability communication
• Digitalisation of existing certification programs to improve efficiency, accreditation processes, and usability
• Use of web-technologies to support dynamic data collection programs associated with impact evaluation, behavioural change, and program learning objectives (amongst others)
• Implementation of digital procurement programs that avoid the pitfalls of cash-based programs in rural areas