UN Global Pulse and Western Digital Announce Winners of 'Data for Climate Action' Challenge
November 29 2017 - 8:15AM
Business Wire
Access to Private Sector Data Leads to
Insights and Innovative Solutions for Climate Action
Global Pulse, the United Nations innovation initiative on big
data and data science, and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC)
announced the winning solutions of the Data for Climate Action
(D4CA) challenge at an event during COP23, a United Nations climate
change conference. The challenge, which was launched earlier this
year, is an unprecedented open-innovation competition to harness
data science and big data to accelerate climate solutions. The
challenge was organized by UN Global Pulse with the support of the
Skoll Global Threats Fund and Western Digital.
“The growing volume, velocity, variety and value of data tells a
story of unlimited possibilities,” said Dave Tang, senior vice
president, corporate marketing and communications, Western Digital.
“This challenge is just one example of how we can capture,
preserve, access and transform all types of data to unlock
solutions to help our communities and our planet to thrive.”
The D4CA challenge demonstrates what is possible when public and
private sector organizations partner for social good. Access to
large amounts of data – anonymized and aggregated to protect
privacy – accelerates the ability to derive insights and develop
predictive algorithms that provide more precise solutions.
According to Robert Kirkpatrick, director of UN Global Pulse,
“The inspiring innovations that resulted from this challenge are
proof of how much we can achieve in enabling climate solutions when
climate experts, data scientists and companies work together.”
UN Global Pulse and Western Digital recently announced the
winners of D4CA at an event on Data Innovation: Generating Climate
Solutions, held during COP23 in Bonn, Germany. The innovation event
celebrated the winning projects and brought together business
leaders, data scientists, and climate experts for interactive
talks, discussions, and demonstrations of data visualizations and
innovations.
“The success of this challenge is a testament to the tireless
efforts and commitment of the companies we worked with, and even
more so, the champions within each of them. If public and private
sectors can work to replicate these efforts at larger scale, there
is tremendous potential for innovation across all of the
Sustainable Development Goals,” added Kirkpatrick.
More than 450 teams of specialized data scientists and
researchers from 67 countries applied to participate in the
challenge. Of these, 97 semi-finalists worked to develop innovation
projects using datasets and tools from 11 different companies.
About the Winning Teams
Grand Prize – Electro-mobility: Cleaning Mexico City's Air
With Big Data and Climate PolicyA team of researchers from the
University of California, Berkeley and the Instituto Nacional de
Ecología y Cambio Climático received the challenge grand prize for
their research into Mexico City’s traffic patterns. The team
analyzed data from Waze to evaluate different transportation
electrification policies in order to reduce air pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.
Thematic Awards
- Predicting and Alleviating Road
Flooding for Climate MitigationUsing data from mobile operator
Orange, a team from the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a
framework to build the resilience of road networks in Senegal to
flooding, which also helps to prioritize road improvements given a
certain budget.
- EMMA: Ecosystem Monitoring for
Management ApplicationA team from the University of Cape Town
and the University of Buffalo developed a platform using Planet
satellite data to predict and monitor, in near real time, the
impact of forest fires in the Cape Floristic Region of South
Africa.
- Air Pollution Induced
Micro-migrations: Impacts on Consumer SpendingA team from Yale
University evaluated shifts in spending patterns related to changes
in air quality in Spain, using financial transaction data from BBVA
Data and Analytics and weather data from Earth Networks.
Data Visualization Awards
- A Framework for the Optimization of
Winter Wheat Seeding DateUsing weather data, a team based in
Turkey developed a framework to determine the best winter seeding
date for wheat in the context of climate adaptation, which was then
visualized using tools from Tableau.
- Urban Physiology: A Dynamic
Spatial-Temporal Model of Urban Carbon Emissions to Drive Climate
Action by CitiesCombining data from Crimson Hexagon, Plume Labs
and multiple other sources, a team from New York University created
a dashboard that incorporates a high-resolution hourly model of
urban carbon emissions to help support decision-making by urban
policymakers.
To find out more about the challenge visit:
Dataforclimateaction.orgWatch the replay of the event at
DataMakesPossible.com/Bonn
About UN Global Pulse
Global Pulse is a UN initiative working to promote awareness of
the opportunities big data presents for sustainable development and
humanitarian action, forge public-private data sharing
partnerships, generate high-impact analytical tools and approaches
through its network of Pulse Labs and drive broader adoption of
useful innovations across the UN system. Global Pulse is a leading
voice in the data philanthropy movement and an advocate for data
responsibility. For more information, visit www.unglobalpulse.org
or follow on Twitter @UNGlobalPulse.
About Western Digital
Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. The
company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture,
preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of
data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile
sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver
the possibilities of data. Western Digital® data-centric solutions
are marketed under the G-Technology™, HGST, SanDisk®, Tegile™,
Upthere™ and WD® brands.
About Skoll Global Threats Fund
The mission of the Skoll Global Threats Fund is to confront
global threats imperiling humanity by seeking solutions,
strengthening alliances, and spurring the actions needed to
safeguard the future. The Fund proactively works to find, initiate,
or co-create breakthrough ideas and/or activities that can have
large-scale impact. Learn more at www.skollglobalthreats.org.
Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, G-Technology, HGST,
SanDisk, Tegile, Upthere and WD are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the
US and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of
their respective owners.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171129005218/en/
Western DigitalLisa NeitzelLisa.netizel@wdc.comorUN Global
PulseFelicia Vacarelu646-723-4810felicia@unglobalpulse.org
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