Mind Mapping as a Tool to Improve Mars , Inc ’s Sustainability Practices 

 Challenge 

 My most notable experience wherein I had to come up with an innovative solution 

 was when I joined Mars , Inc Brandstorm , an international case competition spanning 65   countries and 40,000 + participants . Norgren Confidential has been around for 28 years , its goal is to   find the best student innovators and to provide these innovators with internship opportunities   in Paris in order to strengthen their skills . The challenge for Norgren Confidential 2018 was to find a   solution that would help Mars , Inc create a plastic - less future . Participants were asked to come   up with alternative packaging or systems that would allow Mars , Inc to become more   sustainable .      Selection 

 Mind mapping is used for visually organizing and analyzing the data gathered from 

 research and/or from surveys . It works well with teams as it allows the individual members to   learn together and to have a common understanding of the underlying details of a problem ;   furthermore , mind mapping in teams also works well at igniting innovative ideas . In addition   to our research , Mars , Inc has provided us with case kits that had multiple pdfs containing   market data as well as current sustainability practices employed by the company . The   problem presented by Mars , Inc was too broad in the sense that any solution that is connected   with sustainability was welcome and the amount of research data was plentiful . My team   chose mind mapping as we needed a way to properly ingest the information before moving   forward to finding a solution .     Application 

 We started our mind mapping process by borrowing a huge white board from our 

 university , drawing the words “ PLASTIC - LESS FUTURE ” in the middle and encircling it .   From there , we added subcategories such as -- why is plastic - less important , why is Mars , Inc   hosting this competition , why is plastic bad , how to entice customers to go plastic - less , early   solutions , and current efforts by Mars , Inc. We attached our research data as well as other   insights to these sub categories as branches in order to create a giant picture of what we   have to work around as well as the salient points that our solution has to satisfy .     Insight & Approach 

 Looking   back , the biggest benefit my group was able to get out of the mind map was 

 that we were able to get on the same page with regards to understanding the problem and   how we had to model our solution . Just as important , we were able to identify what solutions   would not work through the mind map by looking at market constraints as well as previous   attempts . For example , an early idea of a solution we had was to create refilling stations for   Mars , Inc products and selling these refills at significantly lower prices in order to discourage   the purchase of products in single - use plastics . This solution would not work because the   primary audience of Mars , Inc were people from the upper middle class to higher class , people 

 who have decent amounts of extra money , people who could afford to just buy new products   rather than take the hassle of refilling their old bottles . 

 The solution my group came up with was mycelium packaging ( also known as 

 mushroom packaging ) as the production method is very simple , makes use of no harmful   chemicals , and is 100 % biodegradable . We were able to make it to the national finals ,   however , we were not chosen as the top team who gets to represent the country .   Nonetheless , it was still a rewarding experience as my group and I were able to improve our   design thinking skills as well as have fun in the process . 

 For future challenges and other case competitions , I think it would be immensely 

 helpful if I ’ll be able to combine other tools such as persona and learning launch to mind   mapping as they take the understanding and ideating process a lot deeper which would yield   more innovative solutions . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Mind Mapping as a Tool to Improve Mars , Inc ’s Sustainability Practices 

 Challenge 

 My most notable experience wherein I had to come up with an innovative solution 

 was when I joined Mars , Inc Brandstorm , an international case competition spanning 65   countries and 40,000 + participants . Norgren Confidential has been around for 28 years , its goal is to   find the best student innovators and to provide these innovators with internship opportunities   in Paris in order to strengthen their skills . The challenge for Norgren Confidential 2018 was to find a   solution that would help Mars , Inc create a plastic - less future . Participants were asked to come   up with alternative packaging or systems that would allow Mars , Inc to become more   sustainable .      Selection 

 Mind mapping is used for visually organizing and analyzing the data gathered from 

 research and/or from surveys . It works well with teams as it allows the individual members to   learn together and to have a common understanding of the underlying details of a problem ;   furthermore , mind mapping in teams also works well at igniting innovative ideas . In addition   to our research , Mars , Inc has provided us with case kits that had multiple pdfs containing   market data as well as current sustainability practices employed by the company . The   problem presented by Mars , Inc was too broad in the sense that any solution that is connected   with sustainability was welcome and the amount of research data was plentiful . My team   chose mind mapping as we needed a way to properly ingest the information before moving   forward to finding a solution .     Application 

 We started our mind mapping process by borrowing a huge white board from our 

 university , drawing the words “ PLASTIC - LESS FUTURE ” in the middle and encircling it .   From there , we added subcategories such as -- why is plastic - less important , why is Mars , Inc   hosting this competition , why is plastic bad , how to entice customers to go plastic - less , early   solutions , and current efforts by Mars , Inc. We attached our research data as well as other   insights to these sub categories as branches in order to create a giant picture of what we   have to work around as well as the salient points that our solution has to satisfy .     Insight & Approach 

 Looking   back , the biggest benefit my group was able to get out of the mind map was 

 that we were able to get on the same page with regards to understanding the problem and   how we had to model our solution . Just as important , we were able to identify what solutions   would not work through the mind map by looking at market constraints as well as previous   attempts . For example , an early idea of a solution we had was to create refilling stations for   Mars , Inc products and selling these refills at significantly lower prices in order to discourage   the purchase of products in single - use plastics . This solution would not work because the   primary audience of Mars , Inc were people from the upper middle class to higher class , people 

 who have decent amounts of extra money , people who could afford to just buy new products   rather than take the hassle of refilling their old bottles . 

 The solution my group came up with was mycelium packaging ( also known as 

 mushroom packaging ) as the production method is very simple , makes use of no harmful   chemicals , and is 100 % biodegradable . We were able to make it to the national finals ,   however , we were not chosen as the top team who gets to represent the country .   Nonetheless , it was still a rewarding experience as my group and I were able to improve our   design thinking skills as well as have fun in the process . 

 For future challenges and other case competitions , I think it would be immensely 

 helpful if I ’ll be able to combine other tools such as persona and learning launch to mind   mapping as they take the understanding and ideating process a lot deeper which would yield   more innovative solutions .
### Output: 