An ICTC Brief
Artificial Intelligence and the Forestry Sector
Published by ICTC, October 2019
Technological and research breakthroughs in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have put it on the brink of revolutionizing almost every industrial sector. It is important to not only consider its applicability in certain domains but also understand when it is not required, in the presence of existing, well-defined computational techniques. Developing AI systems requires access to high-volume, high-quality datasets, and a key complement to this disruption will be the network infrastructure of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), notably 5G deployment. The forestry sector is an example of an industry that can leverage this combination, where data collection and analytics will be crucial to effective operations and supply chain management. Industrial sectors can be vulnerable to control by government or corporate entities monopolizing innovative technology through aggressive patenting, and countries need to be aware how this tandem of technologies can have a deleterious influence on how resources are managed.
Researched and written by Peter Taillon (Senior Data Analyst) with generous support from the ICTC Research & Policy team.
For in-depth insights into the digital economy and the policies that shape it, follow the Digital Policy Salon on Medium and sign up for our weekly briefing.
