The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Its impacts are far-reaching, affecting every aspect of our lives, from public health and food security to economic stability and social justice. Moreover, the impacts of climate change disproportionately burden the world’s most vulnerable people, exacerbating existing inequalities around gender, race, and socio-economic status.
But we have the power to make a difference. By harnessing the transformative potential of AI, we can develop innovative solutions that address the complex challenges that underlie the climate crisis. That’s why the International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI), Zindi, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are proud to announce the launch of the AI for Equity Challenge: Climate Action, Gender, and Health, a global virtual competition designed to help organizations use advanced AI and cloud technologies to create real-world impact, with a focus on benefiting vulnerable populations around the world.
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The Challenge seeks to discover the most promising AI-powered solutions that address the intertwining problems of climate change, gender equality, and public health, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 5, and 13, which focus on health and well-being, gender equality, and climate action, respectively. By bringing together a diverse global community of innovators, we hope to accelerate the development of equitable, sustainable, and impactful AI applications for the benefit of all of society.
“As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves, it is important that we harness its potential to address real-world challenges. IRCAI’s mission is to guide the ethical development of AI technologies to ensure that they serve the greater good of society and are inclusive of marginalized AI communities. This challenge in collaboration with AWS is an opportunity to discover and support the most innovative minds using AI and advanced computing to create effective solutions to the climate crisis.”
– Davor Orlic, COO of IRCAI.
The competition will be rolled out in two phases and welcomes participation from both idea generators and solution builders. In the first phase, organizations will be asked to submit technical proposals outlining a specific challenge at the intersection of climate action, gender equality, and health that they aim to solve using AI and cloud technologies. A steering committee convened by IRCAI will evaluate these proposals based on criteria such as innovativeness, feasibility, and potential for global impact. The competition will be judged and guided in partnership with NAIXUS, a network of AI and sustainable development research organizations.
The top two winning proposals from the first phase will advance to the second round and serve as the foundation for two AI challenges hosted on the Zindi platform, where developers and data scientists from around the world will compete to build the most effective AI-powered solutions that address the real-world problems identified by the winners from the first round.
AI Equity Challenge Timeline
The winning AI solution from the second round of challenges will belong entirely to the organization that submitted the original winning proposal. They will also receive $15,000 in AWS credits and technical support from AWS and IRCAI to help implement their solution. Additionally, the winning teams in the two final Zindi challenges will receive cash prizes of $6,000, $4,000, and $2,500 for first, second, and third place, respectively.
But the real reward isn’t just the prize. By participating in the Challenge, organizations and individuals alike have the opportunity to make a lasting impact on the lives of those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Through the power of AI and advanced cloud computing, we can develop breakthrough solutions that empower women, improve public health outcomes, and drive sustainable progress on the front lines of climate action.
Throughout the hackathon, participants will have access to a wealth of resources, including mentorship from industry experts, training materials, and AWS cloud computing resources. The Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI), a collaboration between AWS and leading scientific organizations, will provide a catalog of over 200 datasets, including climate forecasts, satellite imagery, and air quality data, to enable participants to build robust, data-driven solutions.
“Climate change is one of the greatest threats of our time, and we believe innovation is the key to overcoming it. The AI for Equity Challenge invites innovators to bring their most visionary ideas to the table, and we will help bring them to life with AWS resources, including computing power and advanced cloud technologies. Our goal is to drive cloud innovation to support sustainability solutions and make a meaningful impact on the climate crisis.”
-Dave Levy, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector, AWS
This effort was made possible with the support of ASDI, which provides researchers, scientists, and innovators access to a wealth of publicly available datasets on AWS to advance sustainability-focused research. The AI for Equity Challenge: Climate Action, Gender, and Health will accept submissions from September 23 to November 4, 2024. The two winning proposals from the first round will be announced on December 2, 2024, and the final AI Challenge winner will be announced on February 12, 2025.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the solution. Visit https://zindi.africa/ai-equity-challenge to learn more and submit your proposal today. Together, let’s harness the power of AI to create a more sustainable, equitable and just world for future generations.
visit http://zindi.africa/ai-equity-challenge Find out more and get involved.
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About the Author
Joe Fontaine He is the Product Marketing Lead for the AWS AI Builder program. He is passionate about making machine learning accessible to everyone through hands-on educational experiences. Outside of work, he enjoys freeriding mountain bikes, aerial photography, and exploring nature with his family.
