Based on a series of exemplary small businesses located in the Palermo district, the establishment of a supply chain of regional products for daily needs will be carried out. Palermo is a district of Montevideo where the "VIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Historia Económica" will take place from 3.12. to 5.12.2024. The congress will be used to find interested parties on site for scientific support of the project and at the same time to set the course for a network for further pilot projects in other Latin American countries.
The result of the project is a product. The product is locally produced stickers with a common logo and a dynamic QR code that can be used as local money by organizations and small businesses in the Palermo district.
Strictly speaking, it is an IT-supported tool (digital coin on a coin) that is used to strengthen the local economy.
The project is a pilot project in the field of OPEN SOURCE ECONOMY and implements the systematic creation, distribution and affixing of stickers on coins and banknotes. It uses the central domain names BARRIO.NETWORK and BARRIO.MARKET with their logo as a recognition feature.
In particular, the concept serves the following components of the pillars of a local, intelligent economy:
Integration of IT technology Networking of available information via a network of homepages
Creating innovative products and services for a local marketplace
Culture, Education and lifelong learning through intelligent marketing
Process optimization
Producers have less effort in answering recurring questions and clarifications
Small businesses in the district and from the supplying region can optimize their supply chains
Improving ordering and delivery processes for consumers
Efficient use of resources, including separating food directly from bulk packaging into small, reusable packaging while guaranteeing proof of origin via a QR code
Regional circular economy Money is created directly in the district and money flowing into the district from outside is first used in the region in the next step
At the beginning of the project, existing regional supply chains are searched for and found. The regional supply chains start in regional production facilities in the greater Montevideo area. So far, the producers of the products have been selling their produce at weekly markets and retail outlets in Palermo. This is where the supply chain currently ends. The project continues the supply chain via the existing stores and market stalls to the consumers' homes and directly to the consumer, the end customer. It offers consumers and providers of products and services the additional money and the necessary online ordering system. The continuation of the supply chain to the consumer is also an adaptation strategy for recurring pandemic phases.
The QR stickers, which are attached to coins and banknotes, enable consumers to scan the QR code on site and to make the supply chain transparent and trace it for themselves via the websites accessed by the scanning process. Websites with a small-scale structure offer consumers information about the district and the region. In particular, the websites offer the opportunity to find and visit small suppliers who offer a wide variety of everyday goods and services.
Central domain names for the websites make it possible to consolidate the project and then gradually expand the evolutionary concept of "money stickers" to neighbouring districts in Montevideo and to other cities around the world that want to optimize their organizational processes for consumers.
The available financial resources will be used in a pilot project, in particular to implement a comprehensive equipping of the Palermo district (Montevideo) with the IT tools described above in relation to tourism.