Create weather ecosystems to make weather and climate services more efficient in developing countries

Author(s):  
pascal Venzac ◽  
christine David ◽  
morgane Lovat

<p><strong>Create weather ecosystems to make weather and climate services more efficient in developing countries</strong></p><p>Pascal Venzac, Christine David, Morgane Lovat</p><p>WeatherForce – France</p><p>Over the last decade, extreme events are more and more frequent and/or intensive. 85% of the world's population is affected by these events. But, 75% of the most vulnerable countries has no or little reliable, accurate and effective weather information. Effective forecasts and early warnings could however make the difference between life and death in those countries. Weather data are crucial for local populations and governments who can exploit it to optimize their economic development and prevent major social and health crises.</p><p>By international agreement, National Meteorology and Hydrology Services (NMHS) are the government's authoritative source of weather, climate and water information. But, some NMHS in developing countries have difficulties to deploy and maintain operational infrastructure like rain gauge recorder for example. In addition, rain gauges provide only local information, measuring rainfall level in the specific geographic location.</p><p>WeatherForce was created in August 2016, by two experts from Météo-France Group (French National Meteorological Service) to help meet the challenges of national weather services in developing countries.</p><p>WeatherForce works in close partnerships with NMHS to strengthen their fundamental role and implement weather ecosystems for local development with a sustainable business model.</p><p>The WeatherForce platform, first weather collaborative platform is designed to help:</p><ul><li><strong>public institutions </strong>that need accurate weather data or predictive indicators to help them make informed decisions to protect local populations and infrastructures.</li> <li><strong>universities or research institutes</strong> that need a platform to easily access data to code, modify and share their algorithms.</li> <li><strong>startups incubators</strong> that look for reliable data to create innovative applications to help local populations cope with climate change</li> <li><strong>private companies</strong> that need custom weather services to improve their performance.</li> </ul><p>Our platform aggregates global data (satellite images, global forecasts, etc.) transposed into a local geographic context (IoT sensors, local stations, field expertise). It is opened to local research and innovation ecosystems to offer them access to its qualified data and develop new weather indicators contributing to the creation of a meteorological common.</p><p>WeatherForce aims to increase local sustainability by making weather data available to all through a weather ecosystem.</p><p>Regarding the business model, it is based on revenue sharing, the NMHS receives a commission payment in relation to the revenue generated. WeatherForce sells services to private companies (agribusiness...) and shares the part dedicated with NMHS. The contribution from NMHS is based on the local expertise and data. We do not ask the NMHS to pay a subscription fee for the platform.</p><p>To summarize, we create through Public Partner Engagement (PPE) weather ecosystems that promote dialogue between private actors and public authorities; collaboration for better policies, new business opportunities and sustainable business model.</p><p>The WeatherForce solution connects local actors to each other but also to the rest of the world thanks to our open-source platform designed to allow collaborations between other weather ecosystems worldwide.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelmer Jeuring ◽  
Anders Sivle ◽  
Håvard Futsæter ◽  
Vegard Bønes ◽  
Kristine Gjesdal ◽  
...  

<p>The global digitalization of societies is arguably one of the most influential  drivers of change in the development, implementation and dissemination of weather and climate information. From observations and measurements, to communication of weather warnings, the value chain of Weather & Climate Services (WCS) is increasingly characterized by digital interactions. Yet, digitalization occurs at different paces across regions, depending on a wide range of (local) socio-economic factors. Access to digital information is an important indicator of socio-economic development, and as such strongly embedded in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Particularly in the context of objectives to provide equal access to information, education and knowledge, open weather data can provide significant benefits in developing countries, and contribute to meeting various SDGs. </p><p>Many NMHSs, including the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, currently provide access to weather data under open access licences. One of its most important open data data services is MET Norway Weather API, a global location based time-series forecast service. Recently this api has formally been recognized as a Digital Public Good. </p><p>Open weather data can provide opportunities to improve the forecasting capacity of African NMHSs and improve the quality of weather and climate information in African countries. With the objective to provide leading examples of the potential of open weather data as Digital Public Good, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute has been funded by NORAD to explore this potential in a pilot project together with African NMHSs. We present insights and experiences from the pilot phase of our collaboration with NMA in Ethiopia, and DCCMS in Malawi. We reflect on the challenges and successes of the first phase of this project. Also, we present an overview of key factors that need consideration when aiming to transform open weather data into value-added services that meet user-oriented criteria of Digital Public Goods. Finally, we provide an overview of next steps to move beyond the pilot phase.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Ricardo Reier Forradellas ◽  
Sergio Náñez Alonso ◽  
Javier Jorge Vázquez ◽  
Miguel Ángel Echarte Fernández ◽  
Nicolas Vidal Miró

The global tourism reality is changing, and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This reality is especially representative in countries such as Spain, which are highly dependent on the income generated by the tourism sector. In these destinations, it is necessary to seek innovation and specialization in the sector in order to achieve new business models. This need is even more pressing in destinations overcrowded by the sun and beach effect, as is the case of Mallorca. The proposed work combines the concepts of sports tourism with the development of a wealth-generating business model that will contribute to promoting a tourism that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and deseasonalized. On the other hand, the proposed work will contribute to promoting integration and equality in the participation of women in sports through the development of a model based on the promotion of women’s football. Using the methodology of case analysis, the results of all the approaches outlined are provided, and we obtained a wealth-generation model that is easily replicable and sustainable over time. This work provides a solution to the combination of a sustainable business model that links responsible tourism, the promotion of women’s sport and the generation of wealth.


Author(s):  
E. J. Schwarz ◽  
P. Gregori ◽  
I. Krajger ◽  
M. A. Wdowiak

AbstractIn times of increasing concerns and extensive political debates about social and environmental problems, incumbent firms are obliged to reduce their negative environmental impact by implementing sustainable business model innovation. Yet, realizing more sustainable business model variants entails several complexities and associated challenges that need to be overcome. To support this task, this article takes an entrepreneurship perspective on sustainable business model innovation and combines literature of business models and entrepreneurial lean thinking (ELT). In doing so, it derives a workshop design grounded in contemporary theory with state-of-the-art tools and methods. The workshop is framed as a stage-gate process facilitating the notions of ELT with iterative cycles of ‘create, test, and improve’ and spans the phases of opportunity identification, opportunity evaluation, opportunity development through sustainable business model design, and decision of opportunity exploitation. The article shows that ELT is an appropriate yet underutilized approach for sustainable business modeling. Further, it discusses how the workshop supports opportunities and mitigate pitfalls of ELT for sustainable business modeling. As such, the findings have theoretical implications for the intersection of sustainability and lean approaches in innovation research as well as implications for practitioners by providing a comprehensive framework to support sustainable business model innovation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6944
Author(s):  
Emma Anna Carolina Emanuelsson ◽  
Aurelie Charles ◽  
Parimala Shivaprasad

With stringent environmental regulations and a new drive for sustainable manufacturing, there is an unprecedented opportunity to incorporate novel manufacturing techniques. Recent political and pandemic events have shown the vulnerability to supply chains, highlighting the need for localised manufacturing capabilities to better respond flexibly to national demand. In this paper, we have used the spinning mesh disc reactor (SMDR) as a case study to demonstrate the path forward for manufacturing in the post-Covid world. The SMDR uses centrifugal force to allow the spread of thin film across the spinning disc which has a cloth with immobilised catalyst. The modularity of the design combined with the flexibility to perform a range of chemical reactions in a single equipment is an opportunity towards sustainable manufacturing. A global approach to market research allowed us to identify sectors within the chemical industry interested in novel reactor designs. The drivers for implementing change were identified as low capital cost, flexible operation and consistent product quality. Barriers include cost of change (regulatory and capital costs), limited technical awareness, safety concerns and lack of motivation towards change. Finally, applying the key features of a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) to SMDR, we show the strengths and opportunities for SMDR to align with an SBM allowing for a low-cost, sustainable and regenerative system of chemical manufacturing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5647
Author(s):  
Burhan ◽  
Udisubakti Ciptomulyono ◽  
Moses Singgih ◽  
Imam Baihaqi

Increased manufacturing activity has an impact on environmental quality degradation. Waste generated from manufacturing activities is one of the causes. Previous studies have referred to this waste as value uncaptured. Minimizing value uncaptured is a solution to improve environmental quality. This study aims to reduce value uncaptured by converting it into value captured. This process requires a value proposition design approach because of its advantages. One of the advantages of this approach is that it can improve existing or future products/services. To do so, this research uses a case study of a furniture company. To implement a converting process, a sustainable business model is proposed to solve this problem. This business model combines several methods: value proposition design, house of value and the product sustainability index matrix. Recently, the existing value proposition problem-solving has been using the value proposition design method. This research proposed implementing a house of value to replace the fitting process. The questionnaire is developed to obtain various value uncaptured in the company. To the weight of the value uncaptured, this research utilized the pairwise comparison method. Then, the weights could represent the importance of jobs. Based on the highest weight of these jobs, the alternative gains would be selected. To provide the weight of the gain creators and value captured, the house of value method is developed. Referring to three pillars of sustainability, the value captured should be considered. This research proposed implementing a product sustainability index which in turn produces eco-friendly products. This study produces “eco-friendly products” as sustainability value captured. The sustainability business model could be an alternative policy to minimize the existence of value uncaptured.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3583
Author(s):  
Bogdan Wit ◽  
Piotr Dresler ◽  
Anna Surma-Syta

Socially expected innovations are innovations considering sustainable development. The subject of the paper focuses on the business model of a start-up providing energy saving services to local government units using smart technologies of Industry 4.0 in the aspect of low touch economy. A methodical critical literature review including quantitative and qualitative assessment, stakeholder analysis and business modeling techniques using Business Model Canvas and Triple Layer Business Model Canvas (TLBMC) was conducted. In addition, an in-depth analysis of a start-up case study was conducted. The research questions are related to the interpretation of the organization’s business data and methods of interpreting Sustainability 3.0 business solutions. The research questions were directed to the challenges regarding the creation of the organization’s sustainable business model architecture and the Business Sustainability 3.0 sustainable business imaging concept. The research objective is to design a sustainable business model of a start-up providing energy-efficient services to local government units, whose value proposition refers to an extended sustainable value that meets the economic, social and environmental needs of society. The integration of sustainability in the sustainable business model of the start-up allowed to achieve the research objective of designing a sustainable value proposition that meets the economic, social and environmental needs of society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 499
Author(s):  
Bob Doherty ◽  
Pichawadee Kittipanya-Ngam

This study contributes to the growing interest in hybrid organisations, sustainable business models and inclusive value chain development (IVCD). Recent work has identified that of some 570 million farmers in the world, more than 475 million farmers are smallholders in low-middle-income countries experiencing increasing food insecurity and rural poverty. Research argues that there is a lack of research that provides work on appropriate solutions for smallholders. This paper answers this call by a qualitative study of ten case studies, which draws on hybrid organising, sustainable business model and IVCD research to identify the novel business model characteristics that hybrid organisations use to create and manage more inclusive value chains for smallholders. These hybrid organisations are designed to create a value proposition that delivers sustainability upgrading for smallholders via both product, process and governance upgrades, empowers smallholders to achieve development goals and creates multiple value for social impact. We therefore identify the important characteristics of the hybrid business model to provide appropriate solutions for smallholders and overcome the challenges identified in the inclusive value chain development literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6698
Author(s):  
Seongwon Yoon ◽  
Sungsoo Kim

Despite the increasing uptake of the term sustainable business model (SBM), the concept has mainly focused on business strategies. However, integrating the SBM into a longer-term and macroscopic framework would make it more sustainable. This article explored the SBM as a national strategy that operates beyond a corporate level. In this respect, the study examined the ways in which cultural and political perceptions of a nation can influence consumers’ choices. This article particularly examined the explanatory power of two ideational driving forces: perceptions of cultural heritage, and perceptions of politics and foreign relations. By assessing a dataset of the views of 223 African students studying in Korea, this study confirmed that national image meaningfully affects consumer behavior (intention to recommend). Furthermore, the study provided new evidence that cultural and political perceptions of a nation have a significantly positive effect on national image. It was also found that national image played a role as a mediating variable relating to cultural/political perceptions and intention to recommend. By extending the concept of the SBM to a national level, this article lays the foundation for a win–win situation between decision makers in both business and political sectors.


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