Join “Data for Climate Action” – an open innovation challenge to channel big data for climate solutions
Data for Climate Action is an unprecedented open innovation challenge to harness data science and big data from the private sector to fight climate change. The challenge aims to leverage private big data to identify revolutionary new approaches to climate mitigation and adaptation.
Now is the time to use big data to fight climate change
The impacts of climate change are rapidly accelerating, and there is an urgent need for demonstrably effective solutions. Simultaneously, a global “data revolution” is unfolding around the world. Analyzing privacy-protected digital data – such as mobile data or bank card transactions – can provide valuable insights into human behavior patterns and climate risk. And more data is being generated now than ever before, offering unprecedented opportunities for the private sector to catalyze climate innovation and influence decision-making on a global level by providing data to vetted researchers who can analyze it for the public good.
Data for Climate Action builds on previous challenges, including Orange telecom’s “D4D Challenge” and Global Pulse’s previous ‘Big Data Climate Challenge.’
About the challenge
Data for Climate Action will target three areas relevant to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal on climate action (SDG 13): climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and the linkages between climate change and the broader 2030 Agenda.
Researchers who are selected to participate in Data for Climate Action will have four months to conduct their research. A diverse panel of experts in climate change and data science will evaluate final submissions based on their methodology, relevance, and potential impact. Winners will be announced in November of 2017.
Submit a research proposal
Data scientists, researchers, and innovators from around the world are encouraged to apply and submit their proposals at DataForClimateAction.org by 10 April 2017.
The coalition of data partners
With support from the Skoll Global Threats Fund and in partnership with Western Digital, this global challenge has galvanized a diverse coalition of companies from multiple industries and countries to participate through acts of ‘data philanthropy’.
Companies contributing data for the challenge include:
- BBVA Data & Analytics, a financial data analytics company
- Crimson Hexagon, an enterprise social media analytics company
- Earth Networks, a weather and lightning sensor network operator
- Nielsen, a global measurement and analytics company
- Orange, a global telecommunications provider
- Planet, an earth-imaging satellite network operator
- Plume Labs, an environmental data sciences company
- Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management and automation
- Waze, a free, real-time community-based traffic and navigation app
In addition, researchers may apply to receive cloud-computing support from Microsoft, and visual analytics support from Tableau.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: www.dataforclimateaction.org
