IBM and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) have introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI)–powered solution to promote more sustainable urban development in cities and communities.
This solution will assist policymakers and decision-makers in mapping urbanization and determining the energy and infrastructure needs of communities in emerging countries.
In 2022, IBM began collaborating with SEforALL through the IBM Sustainability Accelerator program. First, IBM worked with the SEforALL team through the IBM Garage, IBM’s collaborative engagement model. During the IBM Garage phase of the project, the organizations conceptualized and designed two AI solutions and an online platform to create a current and future view of buildings in regions of Africa and India.
“We’re proud to launch solutions that harness the power of artificial intelligence to have an impact on communities around the world,” said John Matogo, Corporate Social Responsibility Leader for Africa & the Middle East at IBM. “Collaborating with organizations such as Sustainable Energy for All through our IBM Sustainability Accelerator program helps us unlock innovation and work more closely in communities to tackle some of our biggest challenges, especially around energy and sustainable urban development.”
The brand-new AI model developed by IBM runs on IBM Cloud and was built using the IBM Watsonx AI and data platform. It uses building-specific data—including its footprint, number of floors, roof image, location, and other map data—to determine whether a building is residential or non-residential. This categorization is key to determining the energy needs of a certain urban area.
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, said: “At Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), we believe that integrating AI in the energy sector planning and evidence—especially for developing countries—will go a long way in designing comprehensive solutions for many of the developmental challenges currently facing the Global South and its people. The Open Building Insights (OBI) Tool, which SEforALL has developed in collaboration with IBM, will help energy planners overcome critical data gap challenges to inform energy access and energy transition interventions and better deliver results for those most in need.”
Recognizing the potential of this work to provide even greater insights for city planning and development through the power of AI, these organizations will initially focus on continuing to expand the Open Building Insights online platform in India and will explore integrating the Modeling Urban Growth AI model into the platform.
