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How Smart Systems can Power Our De-Carbonized Future Series

Join LightWorks® at Arizona State University and the Security and Sustainability Forum in a new webinar series on How “Smart Systems” Can Power Our Decarbonized Future. The series focuses on the potential for industry to use artificial intelligence to reduce GHG emissions while improving productivity, maintaining, or increasing profitability and identifying the technological, business, policy, and social challenges in its application in a decarbonized future. The series starts with a framing webinar followed by deeper dives into AI and decarbonization and other environmental and social benefits in several business sectors

How Smart Systems can Power Our De-Carbonized Future Series:

Using Design Thinking to Decarbonize Our Future

June 4, 2020


Design thinking uses customer input and transdisciplinary collaboration to erase silos and reimagine archaic processes, opening opportunities to build smart system tools for decarbonization of operations and supply chains. To kick off the webinar series we pose the question to design thinking leaders from IBM and ASU – How can design be used to transform the culture and operations of an organization to embrace AI, blockchain and other smart tools and thrive in the New Carbon Economy? Learn the principals of design thinking, its incredible power to free your creative thinking and hear how companies can use it to transform their carbon footprint and impact on the planet.

Moderator

Cheryl Heller, Director of Design Integration, Arizona State University

Panelists

Karl Vredenburg, Director, Global Academic Programs, Design Programs Office, IBM Executive, IBM Canada Innovation Corps

Adam Cutler, Distinguished Designer IBM Design

Susanne Jones, Executive Partner, IBM iX

How Companies and Municipalities are Using Digital Technologies to Meet Their Carbon Reduction Commitments

June 25, 2020


Overview

The second webinar in the series explores how to bring systems thinking into the design of programs to decarbonize industrial processes and systems. The discussion will demonstrate how to look at a company from end to end and go beyond incrementalism to scale solutions that can make a climate difference. Several case examples from Siemens’ industrial and municipal customer base and from Novartis will demonstrate the approaches to use smart systems to advance decarbonization commitments in operations and supply chains and address the role of carbon credits in that commitment.

Moderator

Gary Dirks, Senior Director Global Futures Laboratory and LightWorks, Arizona State University

Panelists

Martin Powell, Chief Sustainability Officer, Siemens USA

Jim Goudreau, Head of Climate, Novartis Business Services

Noorie Rajvanshi, Sustainability Scientist, Siemens Corporate Technology

Better Food, Less Carbon in the New Digital Economy

August 21, 2020


Overview

Smart systems can link agricultural stakeholders with farmers, ranchers, and foresters. Traditional agriculture negatively affects biodiversity and emits about 26% of global greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The agriculture ecosystem comprises land use, crop production, livestock and fisheries, and the food supply chain. In this system lies meaningful, measurable, and sustainable regenerative applications that can greatly reduce the impact of agriculture on the planet. Farming data and smart technology solutions can combine to enable customers to make choices through market signals that can drive the industry to regenerative practices that both reduce atmospheric carbon, increase resilience and biodiversity in our food systems, and help improve farming profitability. Panelist from John Deere, Land O’Lakes and the Farmers Business Network explore opportunities to lower carbon emissions, improve biodiversity, and increase the resilience of foods systems world-wide by digitally connecting it from soil to fork.

Moderator

Dr. Sabrina O’Hara, Program Director, University of the District of Columbia

Panelists

Steele Lorenz, Head of Sustainability Business Development, Farmers Business Network, Inc

Jason Weller, Vice President of Truterra, Land O’Lakes

Julian Sanchez, Director of Precision Agriculture Strategy and Business Development, Deere & Company

Prove I Made a Low Carbon Choice – Can smart systems do this?

October 28, 2020


Download the PDF from the Prove I Made a Low Carbon Choice – Can smart systems do this? Webinar

Overview

Misconceptions about what ML and artificial intelligence can and cannot do abound, eroding trust in the abilities they do possess. Developing and deploying the technology in a responsible manner requires an effort of equal proportion, which means one or even a handful of organizations working toward that end is not enough. A significant collaboration within and across academia, industry and government is required to meet the challenge and ultimately build trust among consumers and stakeholders that their best interests are truly at heart and low carbon consumer decisions are truly low carbon.

Moderator

Andrew Maynard, Director of the ASU Risk Innovation Lab, and an Associate Dean in the College of Global Futures at Arizona State University

Panelists

Ben Goertzel, CEO and founder of SingularityNET

David Arconchik, Head of Open Source Machine Learning Strategy at Microsoft

Suchi Gopal, CEO of ESGAnalytics.Ai, professor at Boston University where she applies spatial analysis to environmental science, public health and business solutions

Decarbonize with Big Data – Why Should I Give You My Data, and What do I Get?

October 21, 2021

Overview

Solutions to decarbonize are embedded in data. While data holds every individual accountable for their environmental impact, data also shows numerous ways to create more efficiency that lead to greener options. To address the difficulties of climate change and other complex societal issues, governments and corporations are proposing intelligent systems that use sensors and digital technology to collect data about corporate operations and individuals and their actions. This necessitates the collection and storage of enormous volumes of public and private data. Smart cities, smart agriculture, and other technology applications have sparked debate over privacy, ownership, and rights to utilize data, among other concerns. However, if we are to have egalitarian smart city systems and reliable carbon offsets, the mechanisms that contribute data must also protect it from misuse and negative consequences. The panel will discuss data, trust, security concerns, and various methods to make data sharing attractive to those who own the data and those who utilize it for smarter climate decisions.

Moderator

William Brandt, Director of Strategic Integration, ASU LightWorks

Panelists

Timothy Slaper, Research Director, IU Kelley School of Business’ Indiana Business Research Center

Shade Shutters, Research Scientist, School of Complex Adaptive Systems, College of Global Futures, ASU

Michael Simeone, Director for Data Science and Analytics for ASU Libraries

Pavan Turaga, Director, School of Arts, Media and Engineering, Director, Geometric Media Lab