Six Environmental Projects from Australia Secure Microsoft AI Support

Published on by in Technology

Six Environmental Projects from Australia Secure Microsoft AI Support

Six Australian projects secure Microsoft AI support, says the technology giant. 

Six AI-focused Australian projects have been awarded support through Microsoft’s $US50 million AI for Earth program. Australian recipients this year include Monash University; Griffith University; Queensland University of Technology; InFarm; the Australian Wildlife Conservancy; and, Bush Heritage Australia.

AI for Earth is designed to harness technology to help mitigate and adapt to changing climates, ensure resilient water supplies, sustainably feed a population rapidly growing to 10 billion people, and stem the ongoing and catastrophic loss of biodiversity.

The need for rapid action in Australia has been reinforced by recent environmental challenges including extended drought, dry-lightning triggered bushfires in Tasmania and Victoria, record high temperatures across the nation, Townsville’s flood, and the devastation wrought to agriculture across the Top End by a combination of flooding rains and overnight low temperatures.

AI for Earth is more than just grants – Microsoft is helping to bring transformative solutions to commercial scale and offering open source API solutions to help organisations everywhere scale their impact.

The program’s participants receive a mix of Microsoft Azure c loud computing resources (including AI tools) and/or data labelling services, as well as access to training on Microsoft’s innovative data science, machine learning, and visualisation tools to support the most scalable, innovative solutions in the areas of climate change, agriculture, biodiversity and water – so we are no longer flying blind to the needs and challenges facing our planet.

According to Lucas Joppa , Chief Environmental Officer, Microsoft; “As a technology company with a deep commitment to sustainability, we understand that our responsibility extends beyond our own operations to innovating towards a healthier and better future more broadly.

“The world is seeing rapid advancements in cloud and AI solutions that are unlocking new possibilities to solve the world’s most challenging problems. But the uptake of those solutions to understand and protect the planet is proceeding slowly, and as such, we are essentially flying blind when it comes to understanding how our planet is changing and how to best solve environmental challenges. AI can change that.

“Time is too short and current human resources are too few to solve urgent climate related challenges without the exponential power of AI. By putting AI in the hands of researchers and organisations we can use important data insights to help solve issues related to water, agriculture, biodiversity and climate change.”

  1. The Australian projects which have this year received AI for Earth grants and support are:
  2. Mapping species distributions (Faculty of Information Technology project at Monash University)
  3. Below ground carbon level prediction (Griffith University)
  4. Drone-based reef monitoring (Queensland University)
  5. Weed identification and classification (InFarm startup)
  6. Invasive predator detection in the outback (Bush Heritage Australia)
  7. Feral and native fauna identification (Australian Wildlife Conservancy)

Microsoft’s belief in AI-enabled impact extends beyond AI for Earth which is part of the company’s broader AI for Good initiative.

Together AI for Earth, AI for Accessibility and AI for Humanitarian Action represent a $US115 million five-year commitment to combine Microsoft’s technology and expertise in AI and data science with the talent and expertise of groups around the world in fields such as environmental science, disability needs and humanitarian assistance.

These latest six Australian projects are among the 230 spread across more than 60 countries which have received AI for Earth grants and support to date.

Since the program’s inception researchers are reporting benefits from faster processing speeds, improved accuracy in algorithms, and the ability to scale through new APIs.

This helps boost our ability to address and adapt to a changing climate promising a more informed, sustainable and resilient future.

Find more about these technologies on Microsoft News.

Media

Taxonomy