[open-sustainability] Digital Catapult and AMEE to Launch ‘Environmental Data Exchange’

[Jack Townsend]

http://www.digitalcatapultcentre.org.uk/digital-catapult-and-amee-to-launch-environmental-data-exchange/

Digital Catapult and AMEE to Launch ‘Environmental Data Exchange’

05.02.15 BY HAYLEY BRACE
AMEE, CLOSED DATA, COMMUNITY, DIGITAL CATAPULT, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL DATA EXCHANGE, OPEN DATA
Online portal will help tackle UK’s environmental challenges – opening up access to a wealth of data to help unlock technological and business opportunities 

LONDON, UK. 5th February 2015 – The Digital Catapult, a national centre to rapidly advance the UK’s best digital ideas, and AMEE.com have today announced the development of a new online platform to open up environmental data making information accessible and discoverable to all.

Launching in March, the Environmental Data Exchange will act as a portal from where businesses, researchers, citizens and all other interested parties can pull data including flood risk information, climate models and air quality from sources including the World Bank, DEFRA and DECC. With the UK battling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, companies and governments increasingly need to understand at macro- and micro-levels the risks, impact, and opportunities for their organisations in relation to environmental resources. The aim of the new platform is to make data accessible and available, that will enable the country to unlock innovation, empower new businesses and technological approaches that can address environmental issues and opportunities.

“This platform will enable users to easily access, assess and utilise environmental data while collaborating with others. This could be an absolutely pivotal moment in the UK’s drive to reduce its environmental impact,” said Neil Crockett, CEO at the Digital Catapult. “When we formed the Digital Catapult we made a public promise to help foster collaboration between all data stakeholders across all industries in order to unlock data challenges and accelerate great ideas to market. We believe the Environmental Data Exchange will do exactly this.”

By registering with the Environmental Data Exchange, users will be able to discover, download and use the data from various sources to drive innovations and value within the UK. The platform also puts community and collaboration at its heart – allowing users to upload data sources and their metadata, rate the datasets and comment on them.

Following the platform’s launch in March, a hackathon will be held at the Digital Catapult Centre from March 20th to 22nd.  The hackathon aims to deliver innovations that make a difference via the use and analysis of the datasets available from the Environmental Data Exchange, whilst building a vibrant community for those with an interest and investment in this key data resource. Visit our event page to sign up for the hackathon.

“There is a lot of pressure on the government, business community and the public, to reduce the UK’s environmental impact,” commented Tyler Christie, CEO at AMEE. “Technology can make a huge difference – whether that is smart technology to reduce energy consumption or electric charging points to reduce our vehicle emissions. But if such innovations are really going to make an impact, the people and businesses developing them need to be able to access, analyse and draw from all environmental data. Understanding the challenge we are facing is absolutely fundamental to driving innovation and we are proud to be working with the Digital Catapult to help address this.”

AMEE and the Digital Catapult will launch the platform on March 20-22 via a hackathon at the Digital Catapult Centre. Register here to stay updated on the platform development and upcoming events.

About The Digital Catapult

The Digital Catapult, which became operational in 2013, is a national centre to rapidly advance the UK’s best digital ideas. The Digital Catapult is one of seven Catapults funded by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board). The specific aim of the Digital Catapult is to drive future economic growth in the digital economy by unlocking value from proprietary data in faster, better and more trusted ways. Unlike a number of other Innovate UK programmes, the Digital Catapult is not a funding agency. Instead, it provides support based upon available facilities, expertise and by bringing partners together to help UK SMEs innovate at speed and with less risk so that new digital products and services can be accelerated to market.

In 2014, the Digital Catapult opened the Digital Catapult Centre in central London, which provides an exciting new space for innovators, businesses and academia to showcase their products, connect and collaborate. By 2018, the Digital Catapult will have spent £46m in projects to boost the UK digital economy; this is an agile process, meaning each project is continuously evaluated to determine whether further investment will unlock even greater economic value.

For more information about the Digital Catapult’s projects and programmes please visit our website.

About AMEE

AMEE is a technology company with a mission to build a more resilient and sustainable economy using open, big data and collaborative networks. As climate change and resource constraints increasingly drive risk and volatility, companies are under pressure to adapt and build resilience across their operations and value chain. AMEE and a range of organisations including SSE, UK Government, Google, The Carlyle Group and many others tackle these challenges by making environmental and financial business insights easily accessible and useful. The company, based in London, was founded in 2008 and backed by leading investors Union Square Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, and O’Reilly Alpha-Tech Ventures.
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