As part of the support, researchers will be able to use supercomputers, cloud storage and the weather data database of - IBM In order to deal with climate change and minimize environmental damage
Faced with the acceleration of climate change, IBM offers the global scientific community extremely extensive computing resources, the use of weather data and cloud services, with the aim of helping researchers examine the effects of these changes and consider strategies to minimize their effects. IBM will contribute $200 million worth of computing resources to help manage up to five projects with the highest impact potential. Upon completion, the results of these studies will be presented to the general public, and made available for use.
IBM invites members of the global scientific community to propose projects that may benefit from the use of the World Community Grid, managed as part of the company's social responsibility program. The computing resources at the service of researchers rely on millions of computers and devices of 730,000 volunteers registered to support scientific research. These volunteers download a dedicated application for personal computers and Android devices: every moment when the devices on which the software is installed do not utilize all of this processing power - their remaining processing capacity is automatically directed to performing virtual experiments, which allow the scientific research processes to be significantly accelerated.
Scientists submitting proposals for climate change experiments can also request and receive free storage resources in IBM's cloud environment, allowing them to work and use data in a secure, easy-to-use and highly responsive environment. In addition, IBM offers scientists free access and use of historical weather information, current data and meteorological forecasts around the world, collected and managed by The Weather Company, owned by IBM.
The processing and data resources offered by IBM may enable studies on a number of topics, such as the drinking water shortage crisis; tracking and predicting human and animal migration patterns affected by changes in the weather; Analysis of weather effects on air pollution and efforts to prevent it; Analysis and improvement of agricultural yield in areas exposed to extreme weather conditions, and so on.
In the past, IBM's global community grid computing system has already hosted a series of projects in the fields of the environment, carried out by scientists from all over the world. Thus, for example, Harvard University identified 36,000 carbon-based compounds that have the potential to double the efficiency of electricity production in solar cells, compared to materials currently in use.
According to Oded Cohen, Vice President of Research at IBM Global and Director of the IBM Research Laboratory in Haifa, "IBM is proud to assist the efforts of the global war on climate change. IBM-owned The Weather Company, an IoT system with exceptional performance on a global scale, provides real-time, up-to-date data and accurate meteorological forecasts. The ability to analyze the huge amounts of information that the system collects helps us to understand the Earth in detail."
IBM has a long history of environmental activity. Last week, the company announced that it was four years ahead of the schedule to which it committed itself in reducing its carbon footprint, in the fight against climate change. Earlier this month, IBM reaffirmed its commitment to support the Paris Agreement in the field of climate, and signed an international call (#WeAreStillIn) to continue the international fight against climate change.
The projects that will be supported by IBM will be selected based on criteria of scientific excellence, the potential of contributing to the understanding of the climatic and environmental challenge in which the research is concerned, or the development of effective strategies to minimize the unwanted climatic effects. In addition, the ability of the research team to handle the tasks of the proposed project will be examined. Each of the studies will benefit from processing services worth up to 40 million dollars, and in total - about 200 million dollars for the entire program. Scientists from all over the world are invited to submit projects until September 15 this year. The five winners will be announced this fall.
Since it was established, in 2004, the world-wide computing system has supported 28 projects in the fields of cancer research, AIDS, Zika disease, clean water supply, renewable energy and other humanitarian challenges. To date, the worldwide Serigi computing, managed on the IBM computing cloud, has provided computing power worth about half a billion dollars, which has been offered to the scientific community free of charge. More than 730,000 users and 430 institutions in 80 countries have contributed more than half a million years of processing to date, using more than three million desktops, laptops and Android devices.
For more details about the global Serigi computing system, and to join in order to donate unused computing power on computers and Android devices, you can contact the address: https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/
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One response
A great gift to humanity.