Earth AI x Climate Impact Summit
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The challenge
To prove that professional events can include a community-focused and dynamic element while producing tangible outcomes which address major climate challenges.
Event overview
- Event Type: 30-hour Hackathon focused on various climate-related challenges
- Partner: ClimateImpact Summit
- Location: The Royal Institution, London
- Participants: 80 diverse hackers ranging from students to founders and seasoned operators.
- 16 collaborative teams were formed.
- 12 mentors and judges provided support.
Innovative solutions
1. Winner - Best Potential Climate Impact: Paco
AI-enabled search and specification tool for sustainable packaging alternatives
Helps businesses move away from single-use plastic packaging
Team: Gabriel Brückner, Elisa Escapa Otani, and others
2. Winner - Best Use of AI: BuildIn
Holistic portfolio analysis for sustainable building measures
Addresses climate regulation pressure on asset owners
Incorporates factors such as biodiversity, water, waste, physical and transition risks, and solar opportunities
Team led by Mirren Fischer
3. Winner - Best Pitch: RetroAction
Solution to unlock retrofitting potential for developers and asset owners
Addresses low reuse rates of building materials (currently only 6%)
Helps understand climate policy compliance and material flows
Team led by Ethan Edwards
4. Notable Mention: Plasticats
Precision mapping of waste dumps worldwide
Assesses toxicity levels to prioritize response
Team led by Stéphane Zahrai
5. Notable Mention: Project Ark
AI-powered platform for endangered species education
Uses AR and AI to connect users with charities via local businesses
Team led by Ana Domina
Long-term Impact
- Career Advancement: The event directly led to new job opportunities for participants, showcasing its value in professional development.
- Innovation Pipeline: Generated multiple promising ideas that have the potential for further development and real-world implementation.
- Community Strengthening: Fostered a network of climate-focused innovators, encouraging ongoing collaboration beyond the event.
- Raised Awareness: Highlighted critical climate challenges and demonstrated the potential of AI in addressing them.
- Corporate Engagement: Showcased the value of sustainability innovation to businesses, potentially influencing corporate strategies.
Key Takeaways for Partners
- Talent Acquisition: Our events attract high-calibre individuals, serving as an excellent recruitment platform for organisations.
- Innovation Catalyst: We generate multiple innovative solutions in a short timeframe, which can be further developed by partner organisations.
- Cross-sector Collaboration: Our format brings together diverse perspectives, leading to unique and effective solutions.
- AI Integration: We demonstrate practical applications of AI in addressing climate challenges, helping partners understand and leverage this technology.
- Positive Impact: Our events produce tangible outcomes that contribute to climate action while also benefiting participating organisations.
Earth AI x Heat Geek
Identifying ways to decarbonise home heating while helping Heat Geek's acquire hacker talent
The challenge
The challenge for participants was to identify how we might decarbonise home heating by 2032; the question HeatGeek were looking to answer was whether hackathons could help drive talent acquisition.
Event overview
- Event Type: Weekend Hackathon
- Partner: HeatGeek (Scale-up company)
- Participants: 30 hackers with diverse skills and backgrounds
- Location: Sustainable Ventures
- HeatGeek provided diverse, relevant datasets including heat pump manufacturer APIs; Smart meter data and heat pump monitoring equipment data.
- Five teams formed each focusing on a different aspect of the challenge
Innovative solutions
1. Winner - Innovation Prize: Satellite imagery for heat pump siting to assess home suitability.
Addressed the problem that ~5% of homes are unsuitable for heat pumps
2. Winner - Impact Prize: Helios: heat pump function optimisation using monitoring data.
Tackled the issue of incorrect configuration costing owners thousands
3. Runner-up: Pump It - thermodynamics of heat radiation
4. Runner-up: Install quality optimisation
5. Runner-up: Neuro Energy - battery optimisation
Long-term Impact
- Talent Identification: The event showcased skilled individuals who could potentially contribute to Heat Geek's mission in the future.
- Accelerated Innovation: The event fast-tracked the development of multiple solutions addressing different aspects of heat pump adoption.
- Community Building: Strengthened the network of innovators in the sustainable energy sector.
- Corporate Learning: Heat Geek gained valuable insights into potential product improvements and new market opportunities.
Key Takeaways for Partners
- Rapid Problem Solving: Our format allows for quick generation of diverse, innovative solutions to complex challenges.
- Ecosystem Engagement: We bring together a community of skilled innovators, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Data Utilization: Our approach helps partners unlock the value of their data through fresh perspectives and applications.
- Brand Positioning: Associating with cutting-edge innovation in sustainability enhances corporate image and attracts talent.
Earth AI Meet and Make
Testing the potential of rapid collaboration powered by AI-driven tooling to uncover what can be created in a two hour event format
The challenge
To see whether it's possible to distill the hackathon format into a two hour event - and what outcomes are possible?
Event overview
- Event Type: Rapid 2-hour AI x Climate Hackathon
- Challenge: Various aspects of the energy transition
- Participants: 75 registered attendees
- Location: The Conduit
- Compact 2-hour format designed to maximize engagement and productivity:
- 30 minutes: Expert speaker presentations
- 60 minutes: Group ideation and prototyping
- 30 minutes: Presentations and wrap-up
- Curated panel of expert speakers:
- Sharon Chen (Revent VC): Overview of the energy transition
- Cien Solon (Launch Lemonade): Practical tips on building AI-powered solutions
- Peter Mandeno: Importance of human connectivity in AI design
- Groups formed: Five diverse groups focussed on a different aspect of the energy transition:
- Clean Energy Generation
- Energy Storage and Grid Optimization
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Electrification
- Consumer Adoption and Behavior Change
- Collaboration: We provided access to generative AI tools to accelerate the ideation process and encouraged rapid prototyping, with ideas and even one working prototype presented at the end of the session.
Innovative solutions
- Clean Energy Generation: AI-powered system to streamline solar energy development applications for the national grid.
- Energy Storage and Grid Optimization: Consumer-facing application to enhance understanding of energy demand, supply, and costs
- Stakeholder Engagement: AI-driven database showcasing energy use across clothing production stages
- Electrification: Dynamic, AI-powered route planning system for public transport
- Consumer Adoption and Behavior Change: Demo of an AI system analyzing home energy use data to identify high-consumption triggers
Long-term Impact
- Proof of Concept: Demonstrated the feasibility of rapid, AI-driven innovation in climate solutions
- Network Building: Strengthened the Earth AI community and fostered new connections among participants
- Awareness Raising: Increased understanding of AI's potential in addressing climate challenges
- Inspiration for Further Action: Motivated participants to continue developing their ideas beyond the event
Key Takeaways for Partners
- Talent Acquisition: Our events attract high-calibre individuals, serving as an excellent recruitment platform for organisations.
- Innovation Catalyst: We generate multiple innovative solutions in a short timeframe, which can be further developed by partner organisations.
- Cross-sector Collaboration: Our format brings together diverse perspectives, leading to unique and effective solutions.
- AI Integration: We demonstrate practical applications of AI in addressing climate challenges, helping partners understand and leverage this technology.
- Positive Impact: Our events produce tangible outcomes that contribute to climate action while also benefiting participating organisations.