Take part in the innovation factory start-up pitching challenge

Could Artificial Intelligence (AI) be the solution to the world’s climate crisis? AI is a tool that is already providing insights into where and how climate change is affecting our agriculture and food systems.

FAO together with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Telecommunication Union, UNESCO and the World Bank have just launched a competition for start-ups. The competition encourages the development of solutions using AI to address the impact of climate change on food security and sustainable water resources.

The competition was launched at the AI for Good Global Summit 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland, and is part of the AI for Good platform, which gives start-ups a global stage to promote and help grow their innovative, AI-powered, and climate-driven solutions.

The competition is organized around different themes, and for this call, FAO will be voting. The contestant will need to solve this problem statement:

How can AI complement Earth Map to help users identify water-related challenges in specific areas and provide useful insights into and analyses of water resources?

The winners of the contest will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a global audience at the UN Climate Conference - COP28 in Dubai. They will also benefit from funding opportunities, access to mentoring services, global partnership opportunities and media exposure.

Earth Map

FAO developed Earth Map in the framework of FAO-Google partnership. Earth Map allows everyone and anyone to look, process and analyze satellite imagery and global datasets on climate, vegetation, fires, biodiversity, geo-social and other topics.  It is a free, open-source tool created to support countries, research institutes, farmers, and members of the public with internet access to monitor their land in an easy, integrated, and multi-temporal manner. As a result, Earth Map has been a significant step towards adopting AI in agrifood systems and to solving crisis including global challenges related to climate change.

More recently, the development of Large Language Models, such as Chat GPT, has opened the way to building an AI-based assistant that could further facilitate users’ experience of Earth Map. 

In a world that is changing rapidly, technological, and innovative solutions are one way to make agrifood systems more resilient and sustainable. AI can help to improve the accuracy and timeliness of data collection, analysis, and forecasting which can help farmers and different stakeholders to identify areas of vulnerability due to climate change, which allows for the development of targeted interventions.

Climate change impacts on the water cycle are expected to significantly affect agricultural output and the environmental performance of productive land and water systems. As the rate of biodiversity loss and the loss of agricultural land through soil and land degradation is accelerating, FAO is working with countries to address these global issues to achieve a world without hunger and poverty. 

Application and selection

Step 1 – Contestants will need to submit their innovative ideas here.  A jury of technical and business experts will evaluate the proposed ideas and select those that will go to the second phase. The deadline is 31st August 2023.

Step 2 – the selection process will take place between September and November and the chosen contestants will be invited to present their innovative ideas live, before a jury who will evaluate the proposed ideas and select the winners. The winners will then be invited to present their ideas to a global audience at COP 28.

Find here more information about the contest and the complete list of problem statements.