Distinctive Output Was Reached at "Technology for Prosperity by the Skolkovo Foundation" program at GMIS 2021: AI and Big Data help to ensure sustainable development
The Skolkovo Foundation initiates a dialogue on sustainable development, organizing a panel discussion with international experts and a pitch session where eight sustain-tech Skolkovo startups demonstrated their solutions to expert Jury that selected the winning startup: "Bioenergy" for its project Wisesoil.
The exclusive program “Technology for Prosperity by the Skolkovo Foundation” was held on November 24 during GMIS2021. The program featured a panel discussion on the theme: “Industrialization and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities’’ moderated by Kirill Kaem, Senior Vice President for Innovations of the Skolkovo Foundation along with Maxim Remchukov, Sustainable Development Director, SIBUR Holding, Prof. Ivan Oseledets, Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence Technology, Skoltech, Sergey Korotkov, Director UNIDO ITPO, Russia, Prof Abdullatif Al Shamsi, President and CEO, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dr. Mansour Khan, Head of the Department of Computer and Network Engineering, College of Information Technology, UAE University as speakers.
“Technology for Prosperity by the Skolkovo Foundation”.
Researchers assume the industrial revolution to have the largest negative environmental footprint. Yet, the new industrial revolution has presented great emerging technologies like IoT, Big Data and AI.
Prof. Ivan Oseledets, Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence Technology, Skoltech supposed that AI and Big Data can solve the issue of estimating the carbon footprint and improve productivity and efficiency across Russia.
“There are several aspects that need to be monitored such as car and ocean pollution, and this can all be done by the collection of different technologies such as satellites and drones that can be combined with physical models. Physical models can sometimes be incorrect and this is where we need to incorporate AI to change this. The goal is to apply AI techs to different sectors such as oil and gas, but we still have to wait for the results and invest in this type of research. There is a huge work ahead, and it takes a great amount of training to increase our models and to make AI greener.”
While the acceleration of data is regarded as the fourth industrial revolution, panelists believe that we are in fact in the Sixth Industrial Revolution.
Dr. Manzoor Khan, Head of the Department of Computer and Network Engineering, College of Information Technology, UAE University: “In my view, we are experiencing not the fourth, not the fifth, but the sixth industrial revolution. AI approaches can only be possible if you have the digitalization and infrastructure in the first place. Digitalization plays an important role and it’s about the strategy of implementing digitalization. This year, more than 11 billion sensors for digitalization will be deployed in the industry. We can reap the benefits of this, but we have to consider the standardization of our goals.”
Some scholars estimate technological development reduces environmental impacts of harsh manufacturing processes by shortening supply chains and greatly improving production technologies. However, in the globalization era, it can be difficult for corporations to fully understand their own supply chain and measure their environmental impact due to multiple suppliers and traders around the world. Experts shared examples of initiatives and action plans big corporations and big organizations implement to cope with the paybacks of the industrial revolution.
Sergey Korotkov, Director UNIDO ITPO, Russia: “We are focused on our organization and incorporation of the lifecycle whole chain by implementing recycling and figuring out how products can be utilized. We need to have standards in order to ensure nature is not harmed and to prevent causing problems for the next generation. We are working for the implementation of international protocols to deal with consistent pollution, and our task is to bring the best solutions for Russia and to other countries.”
Maxim Remchukov, Sustainable Development Director, SIBUR Holding: “We are in the midst of implementing our new project this year to eradicate biometric issues and this will give us a competitive edge. The challenge is to produce a low carbon footprint of our products and this is the market’s demand. We need to create a solution for our customers and change our business model to increase energy efficiency.”
Nowadays, the need for taking responsibility over our planet is in place as the environmental impact was pushed to the threshold limits of tolerance. While some could argue that technology and industrialization have had an irreversible impact on the environment, others estimate that the high quality and attractive technological solutions gave valuable support for the efforts of governments, organizations and corporations to ensure sustainability for future generations.
Prof Abdullatif Al Shamsi, President and CEO, Higher Colleges of Technology: “We are fortunate that the UAE leadership is addressing climate change as the highest priority today and we are privileged to showcase this at the global level. We are developing our carbon neutral plan for 2030 and are willing to reduce greenhouse gases. We continuously monitor sustainability performance and have a strategic KPI system. The Generation Z is more caring regarding environment rather than the previous generation. We have witnessed this passion about the environmental issues of sustainability and they have been coming up with their own ideas and championing this. They are becoming more aware about it.”
As Skolkovo is the biggest innovation center for startups in Russia, there is an alignment that startups can be fundamental to spread efficient and useful technologies across the world. Following the panel session, eight Skolkovo sustain-tech startups demonstrated their solutions to a jury:
RSC Ecopromtech — Innovative method of sewage sludge thermal treatment.
Sreda — Software products designed to ensure vehicle traffic safety.
Volts Battery — Energy Storage solution for country houses and apartments.
Offsetted — B2B SaaS ecological footprint management platform.
Yablochkov — Ultrafast charging stations for electric vehicles.
Avant Space Systems — Constellation of satellites with lasers that will promote companies’ logos in space.
Bioenergy — Wisesoil biomass pretreatment module.
GeoAlert — AI-powered Mapping for data analysts and cartographers across various industries.
The pitch session was moderated by Leena Abu Mukh Zoabi, Head for International Cooperation at the Skolkovo Foundation joined by expert jury from Skolkovo Foundation, LG Electronics, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Skolkovo Ventures, Russian Venture Company, Crido R&D, The Launch Code!.
Jury selected Bioenergy as “The Winner of Skolkovo Pitch session at GMIS 2021”. The Startup will get an invitation to join GMIS 2022, an acknowledgment in the GMIS Final report and a free ticket to Nobel Vision. Open Innovations Forum 2.0.