THE YULAM SYSTEM

1. We are committed to solve a public health crisis in Southeast Asia, which is demonstrated through acute rates of obesity and Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) such as type-2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and high blood pressure.

2. We are proposing for the local populations to reconnect with their own ecosystem and especially their local edible flora (termed "Ulam") that presents nutritional benefits as well as NCD-healing and preventing properties. To this end, we want to set up an Ulam-based virtuous social innovation from production to consumption through powerful digital tools.

3. If this solution was scaled globally, it would decrease NCD rates, consequently preventing cardiovascular accidents as well as non-genetic based cancers in certain cases. The Yulam solution would also enable stronger social inclusion of the ethnic minorities groups of Southeast Asia that are both gatekeepers and curators of Ulam greens.

Obesity and Non Communicable Diseases (NCD).

Malaysia, where this solution was born, records alarming NCD statistics : overweight Malaysians represent more than 30% of the country population, with an obesity rate of 16%. 1 adult upon 3 suffers from high blood pressure and the ratio of Malaysians diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (lifestyle –related diabetes) attains 22%, which is high for any given country (World Health Organization, 2019). 63 % of Malaysian adults face objectively a high risk of contracting at least one of the aforementioned NCD (WHO, 2019).

This is due in particular to a high urbanisation rate (76%, Malaysia Department of Statistics, 2020) and correlated health food deserts associated with insufficient prevention campaigns and low levels of risk information about  unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle.

New industrialised countries such as Singapore show similar figures while fast-emerging countries like Vietnam present alarming trends.

The solution is two-fold: Ulam to heal;  and ‘Yulam’ to connect.

Ulam : The word ulam is a Malay idiom, referring to edible flora

Ulam greens possess a much lower calorie and glycemic index compared to commercially cultivated vegetables, thereby offsetting the negative effects of both malnutrition and obesity; their polyphenols, lower cardiovascular diseases and reduce risks of certain cancers, thanks to free radicals' scavenging activities.

Yulam: federating around well-eating through digital technology

Yulam is a mobile public health application for an urban target that aims to reinstate Ulam in the daily lives of Malaysians and Southeast Asians.
The App comprises 5 features.

1. A scientific and exhaustive botanical database; 

2. A database of healthy Ulam-based recipes 

3. A Yulam labelled map which allows to list-down the places where to get ulam

4. A dish scanner, with artificial intelligence image recognition system, which analyses the nutritional values of dishes and food and communicates them to the user.

5. An Avatar, visually impacted by the analysis results of the food scanner, and by the use of geolocation map. The goal is to increase the avatar's 3 gauges: Balance (nutritional balance), Local (local consumption) and Goals (personal goals of the user).

The Malaysian population: Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) affect a large proportion of the population. According to Malaysia-World Health Organization’s Country Cooperation Strategy 2016-2020 initiative, the main disease burden has shifted in recent years to NCD, which accounts for 73% of all deaths in Malaysia. Ulam School and the Yulam application could reverse this trend.
Indigenous communities are ulam's curators: by putting Ulam back on top of eating habits, the Ulam School project also aims to reintegrate the know-how and the cultural and culinary heritage of ethnic minorities, who are today invisible. We also wish to create a "Yulam" label. This label will guarantee origin, short supply chain, organic quality, and social integration at an affordable price for sold Ulam under this label. The incorporation of a map in the Yulam application would enable, among other things, to reference all Yulam labeled greens and seeds, which would eventually get patterned. Indigenous communities shall then receive a percentage from all Yulam label’s sales.

Malaysia imports more than it consumes its own products. Ulam School encourages locavorous consumption sourced from syntropic agroforestry. This chemical-free farming model draws responsibly from forest’s Ulam, optimizing aborigines’ plots of land neighbouring the forest. With climate change becoming more ubiquitous, there is an obligation to find plants that are resilient and can withstand the harsh changes yet protecting the environment. Ulam greens do fit the bill.
The target population for our Yulam solution are low and middle-classes’ urbanites of Malaysia, being the most affected by NCD, and the most disconnected from the Ulam's health benefits. 

Ulam greens, together with their virtues and their place in the Malay archipelago's cultural heritage already exist by themselves, although invisible to end consumers. Our research and scientific analysis of Ulam confirmed and detailed their nutritional and medicinal properties. Their benefits for the Malaysian and Southeast Asian population, in daily use, could greatly contribute to the reduction of the region's obesity rate as well as the spread of NCD.
But seeing and affirming this with evidence is not enough. What makes our solution innovative is the mediation process by which we want to introduce them into food consumption habits.
The Yulam application, thanks to its modern design and ergonomics, is intended to be adapted to an urban target audience accustomed to the use of digital technology. Easy to use (just scan your dish), it uses the avatar created by the user and its three gauges (Balance, Local, Goals) as a loyalty driver. Thanks to the avatar and its gauges, eating well is no longer just an abstract idea. "Eating Yulam" means acting directly on one's health ("Balance"), supporting local producers ("Local") and reaching one's own goals in terms of nutrition ("Goals"). Completing these gauges becomes a goal to reach, each step in this direction is visible and rewarded.
Finally, in the same vein, the recipes proposed by Yulam, elaborated by chefs, "glamorize" ulam greens through healthy lifestyle by proposing updated traditional dishes that are yummy, aesthetically beautiful, and good cause: offering Southeast Asia region a sustainable, healing and regenerative food system.

The use of Yulam is centralised on a food scanning system. We therefore need Artificial Intelligence for image recognition, via deep learning technology, a method of machine learning, which consists of preparing machines to find solutions by training them to generate links between data. Deep learning enables data from the learning machine to be analysed using a network of artificial neurones that will gradually improve their own image recognition performance.

There exists many deep learning frameworks, such as Tensorflow, Caffe2, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit/CNTK, PyTorch, etc.

Caffe2 would be our preferred Learning Machine framework, as it is light and modular, coupled with an intuitive Python interface designed for large scale mobile deployment. This framework uses statistic graphs, thus offering a simple and straightforward way to trigger and deploy AI models.

Scanning and image recognition have long been present in many successful nutrition applications (Yuka, Foodvisor).
In the context of Yulam, we want to use a deep learning framework (a kind of "toolbox" that allows us to optimise the development work). A mentioned earlier, The Caffe2 framework seems the most suitable for our project because it is widely used for image recognition in mobile applications. Indeed, it is light and modular, and designed for large-scale mobile deployments of AI models. 

As evidence of our Proof of Concept, see selected tentative screen displays of our Yulam application here below:

See detailed visual aid for our theory of change:

Document's word count is 322.

Today our solution serves the communities involved into the project : 3 universities (The National University of Malaysia, INTI College and Sunway University) plus 3 aborigines settlements in the state of Pahang: that is a total of about 50,000 people.

Four states of the Federation of Malaysia constitute our playfield, as we draw resources and networks from them. 
According to social capital theories, a new trend always starts from the social elite stratum. Malaysia is divided in three socio-economic strata: (1) the bottom 40; (2) the middle 40; and (3) the top 20. We will then target the top 20% of these four states' population in phase 1; in phase 2, awareness will start trickling down to the middle 40%; in phase 3, finally reaching the bottom 40% of the Malaysian population.

How many will it serve in one year? 
20% of the populations from the states of Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Melaka, i.e : 1,876,920 people X 0.76% urbanisation rate (UR) = 1,426, 259 million.

In five years?
60% (top 20 + middle 40) of these two strata for the whole country. The total population of Malaysia is about 32 millions: hence we can target a minimum of 19 million, of which 76% are urbanised, hence about 14 million.

Starting 2021, we will begin operating in Vietnam and Cambodia whose populations are almost 100 million x 35 % UR  and about 17 million x 25 % UR respectively. Hence a total captive clientele of about 40 million.

For Yulam, the short-term goal would be to develop a testable prototype of the application, with a database of plants and sufficient recipes.

Within 5 years, and based on the success of our initial objectives, Yulam will be developed, reaching urban populations and its use will be relayed by the country's media. We collaborate with partners who carry our values and who participate in the life of the application: cooks and chefs, aborigines, small producers. We are preparing the implementation of a Yulam label that guarantees origin, free trade, short supply chain, quality and a reasonable price for our labelled products.

We will venture first in Cambodia and Vietnam as we already have resources in these two countries, thanks to existing and active partnerships as well as business collaborations.

We would like consequently to extend our reach throughout the Asia-Pacific region, leveraging at first on our scientific cooperation with Japanese universities and scientific institutions. The social justice component of our model might be of interest for settlers societies like Australia and New Zealand whose indigenous communities are often in antagonistic terms with their governments while at times suffering from economic and social marginalisation.

Cultural aspect: Ulams are seen as plants with little charisma, and considered as a simple Malay culinary marker for other ethnic groups.

Nutritional aspect: In the big cities, it is easier to find fast food than a local fruit or vegetable (concept of “healthy food desert”).

Technological aspect: The development of our AI, via a machine learning process, requires money, time and human resources to create the cognitive algorithm we need for the scanning of the application.

Cultural aspect: Trainers from culinary schools develop innovative, urban-palatable, inclusive and yet healthy ulambased recipes in conversation with trend-setting chefs. The Yulam diet leverages on 2 drivers: 
1. Top-down education: influencers chefs glamourize Ulam and are relayed by and media. 
2. Bottom-up education: culinary schools train new generation of foodservice practitioners, while disseminating Yulam movement in primary and secondary schools with the support of “Yulam Ambassadors’ Clubs” based in universities.
By abolishing culinary markers, the recipes proposed by Yulam also bring the values of social mixing and living together to their scale.

Nutritional aspect: With these new innovative, urban-friendly and inclusive recipes, we want to show that a dish made with ulam can be just as appetising as a fast food menu, as well as being healthier.

Places where ulams can be purchased will be identified and listed in the application. The Yulam label will then guarantee short circuit, quality and reasonable price to consumers.

Technological aspect: First of all, we need to mobilize human resources. The research we have been conducting for the past 2 years has enabled us to enrich our current knowledge of ulams. We need to continue on this path, profiling and tagging existing data to pre-process necessary data before we can supply them to IA.
Lastly, we need to secure funding to make the technological development of this AI a reality.

Our core R&D team comprises 8 people.

Dr François Couplan is ethnobotanist, will organise Ulams' taxonomy;

Dr Linda Ainouche is visual anthropologist, in charge of video documentation;

Ms Jasmine Phang is ethnographer and aborigines communities' liaison;

Chef Darren Teoh will develop healthy and attractive recipes;

Ms Alice Wetley is our App designer;

Dr Renan Mouren is our App developer;

Ms Samantha Lim is journalist; she will lead our media (mainstream and social) campaign;

Dr Eric Olmedo is social anthropologist and team leader.

I have been living in Malaysia for more than 10 years. My spouse is Malaysian and we have three sons born and bred in Malaysia. As my sons represent the future, I want them to live in a harmonious healthy lifestyle leveraging responsibly on the beautiful natural resources of a preserved ecosystem. 

I believe I am very well positioned to lead this project and achieve our goals. The objective rationalisation for such an assertion comes from the fact that I have been recognised by my peers and the corporate world for my action research in a form of an international grant awarded to me by the Toyota Foundation through competitive bidding: 

http://toyotafound.force.com/p...

The selection rate is 4.5% for such a grant. The aforementioned project termed "Ulam School" represents the step 1 of our social innovation plan. The Step 2 is The Yulam System presented herein.

Our team for The Yulam System is highly skilled and eclectic, in the sense that they complement each other perfectly. All of them are sound professionals and renowned in their own sector of activities (some of them are even world-renowned and award winners).

We conducted documentation research and performed nutritional analysis. We investigated nutritional and medicinal properties of our selection of ulam, which yielded promising findings and confirmed our faith in our project. Thanks to the contribution of researchers, chefs, and aboriginal communities who support the project, we are able to reflect and implement a sustainable, inclusive and digital solution.

Kyoto University, Department of Agriculture, Japan, teaches all about syntropic agro-forestry;

Collège pratique d’ethnobotanique, France, trains us about ethnobotany focusing on edible plants;

Sunway university, Malaysia, is our partner for nutritional analysis and food technology;

Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, France, harbours our team of App designers and developers. 

Pos Brooke Aborigine settlement, Malaysia, is our partner for ethnoscience: to know better about traditional usage and properties of native wild ulams from the Malaysian jungle;

Dewakan restaurant, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, led by Chef Darren Teoh, leads the way on how to accommodate local wild edible greens; the restaurant has been voted one of the 50 best fine dining restaurants in Asia in 2019 and number 1 in Malaysia.

Urban youth is our main target and future customers. We reach them through media, social networks and influencers, who transmit Yulam's values. For further details, see business model here below (figure includes 210 words).

We believe in our solution as a large-scale solution. 

Indeed, health education is essential to feel free to make conscious consumption choices. In Malaysia, ulam greens represent a healthy, ecological and sustainable alternative to a mode of consumption in which the relationship between humans and nature is being increasingly disconnected. We want to contribute to the intensification of a general awareness movement in favour of nature and the benefits it continues to bring us. This "Yulam movement" will anchor its values in the Southeast Asia region, which harbours many mega-biodiverse countries, which are unfortunately scarred by the double imprint of colonisation and industrialisation. Social fragmentation and ecological disasters are part of the aftermath. That is why we think that the Southeast Asia region, with Malaysia as its anchor and hub, may act as social laboratory.  We have much to learn from Malaysia's invisible or marginalised minorities. We do not wish to go backward, neither ecologically nor socially. On the contrary, we want to use actual powerful digital tools to reconnect humans with nature and fellow human beings. Thanks to years of research, both in the laboratory and in the field, we are now able to propose concrete and scientific solutions for a healthy, low-carbon and resilient food production-cum-consumption ecosystem.

The IA project that we want to include in the Yulam app is ambitious, time-consuming and relatively costly. Above all, we need human resources to implement it.

Since we need to make the values of Ulam School and Yulam known to as many people as possible, in order to carry out our overall project, we will require strong media exposure and influential partners who share the same values, thus being willing to engage with us.

As per the business model, being mostly academics and consultants, we are in need of more financial expertise. The core of our business model is relatively simple, as it is based on a monthly/yearly subscription fee per user. However, we need professional input and insights in order to reflect on our product lifecycle and how to transit from a subscription based-model to a quality/fair trade label that would generate copyrights revenue.

The team of developers from the UNESCO Chair on Digital Editing and Innovation from the Foundation of the Science of Man ("Fondation de la Maison de Sciences de l'Homme") in Paris, France. They are very good professionals as they are also advisors for international corporations. Partnering with them would ensure us that we will work with updated technology.

IMEN Blockchain corporation, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Partnering with IMEN Blockchain Ltd would grant us access to the technology that enables distributing public ledgers holding immutable data in a secure and encrypted way, so that our future financial transactions can never be altered. We could also leverage on their “distributed ledger technology” (DLT) for automatically issuing and securing legal contracts to protect our Intellectual Property.

Last but not least, we would rejoice if we could work with member(s) of MIT faculty, as far as the AI dimension of our App is concerned. Hopefully our YULAM SYSTEM project is attractive and stimulating enough for MIT faculty.