Element AI, a global developer of artificial intelligence-powered (AI) solutions and software, today announced a collaboration with PemPem, a company that develops mobile-based enterprise resource planning technology for paper-based and informal supply chains. PemPem will integrate Element AI Document Intelligence features into its platform to assist Indonesian palm fruit traders (farmers, transporters, aggregators and processors) in verifying sales transactions. The technology will also help create a more sustainable palm oil supply chain in the region. 

Without data digitalization or formal contracts, workers in the Indonesian palm oil industry worked with unreliable harvesting, market-sales, and income histories. Traditionally, with earnings having been managed through word-of-mouth processes, workers struggled to build credit histories, resulting in barriers to access basic banking services. The palm oil industry is also linked to climate change, with much of the trade being undocumented.

PemPem will work closely with Element AI to create accurate earnings ledgers for workers through the integration of EAI Document Intelligence with its mobile-based technology. Workers will simply take photos of paper receipts they get from their buyers (processors, aggregators, transporters) with their smart-phones and upload these onto the PemPem App, which will use  the data entity extraction feature in EAI Document Intelligence to automatically extract and verify the information.  The automated data extraction from the receipts will enable the PemPem platform to cross-check and correlate the amounts that farmers are entering with the data extracted from the receipt—ensuring accurate historical records. 

The technology will also be used to digitize information regarding the volume and origin of the palm oil traded, creating a more accountable and sustainable supply chain, ultimately helping combat climate change. The technology can easily be applied to other supply chain applications, in different business scenarios.

This project is supported by grant funding provided by Prompt, a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating partnerships and R&D financing between businesses and the public research sector. This project is one of 65 innovation projects Prompt has chosen to fund this year.  

“For these emerging markets, there is a real opportunity to combine the latest and most innovative AI technologies to integrate and evolve traditional ways business has been done, helping people in remote areas of the world gain better business insights, and positively impacting their bottom line,” said Joann de Zegher, Founding President of PemPem. “By integrating the Element AI Document Intelligence data-extraction technology into our platform, much needed technical solutions can serve everyday problems, and improve the quality of life for Indonesian micro-firms, provide increased supply chain traceability, and help combat climate change.”

“AI is not created just for major global organizations,” said Jean-François Gagné, CEO and Founder of Element AI. “It’s easy to see how the application of these powerful solutions and tools developed by PemPem are being applied beyond industrial, market-driven applications to offer the benefits of AI, once considered out of reach to traditional markets like the Indonesian palm oil industry,” added Gagné.