Software companies awarded $250,000 for project fighting supply chain slavery

Sustainability Incubator and Trace Register will use the money to support a digital tool that makes it easier for seafood wholesalers to confirm fish hasn’t been caught or processed using unpaid labor, according to Partnership for Freedom.    Sustainability Incubator and Trace Register, two companies that develop technologies for improving global supply chains, won the $250,000 grand prize in Partnership for Freedom’s challenge to create methods for fighting labor trafficking.
   The winners will use the money to support a digital tool that makes it easier for seafood wholesalers to confirm fish hasn’t been caught or processed using unpaid labor, Partnership for Freedom said in an e-mailed statement Monday. The Partnership brings together U.S. government departments and private groups including Humanity United, the social welfare organization started by eBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam.
   Trace Register and rival supply chain monitoring companies are developing new tools to help companies confirm the safe, legal origins of products as awareness rises of labor abuses. The Partnership for Freedom has also drawn support for the Rethink Supply Chains challenge from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s 10,000 Women initiative and Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation.
   “We look forward to working with Humanity United and Sustainability Incubator, as well as many producers, suppliers and retailers who are committed to eliminating forced labor from the seafood supply chain,” said Phil Werdal, chief executive officer of Trace Register.
   Good World Solutions was named runner-up, winning a $50,0000 grant to develop its LaborLink mobile technology that lets trafficked workers use mobile phones to quickly and safely provide feedback on labor conditions.