Grand Prize Winner, Runners Up Named for AI Innovation Grand Challenge.
The Grand Prize winner of the 2024 AI Innovation Grand Challenge is Dr. Letetia Addison of Trinidad and Tobago. She will be honored at an award ceremony at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Grand Challenge Basics
The Grand Challenge — co-hosted by the Enterprise Neurosystem and the UN Climate Change Technology Executive Committee (TEC) — is a global competition to identify and support the development of #AIforClimateAction solutions to address climate change in the most vulnerable developing countries, including small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).
The competition was open to individuals and groups worldwide, regardless of background or affiliation, including students, entrepreneurs, academics, researchers, and NGO volunteers. Proposals at all stages of development, from initial ideas to prototypes to solutions already deployed in the field were accepted.
Note: For members of the Fourth Estate and bloggers, the official press release can be read here.
Sponsors Provide Technology and Services Prizes
Several sponsors provided prizes for the Grand Challenge with more than US$5 million in technology offerings (such as cloud computing credits and software licenses) and services.
Prizes are to be shared among the top five teams to help them further develop their AI-powered climate solutions. Prizes and sponsors include:
- Kove: US$5 million in credits for Kove:SDM™, its Software-Defined Memory technology.
- Red Hat: US$300,000 in credits for Red Hat OpenShift AI on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA).
- Amazon Web Services: US$250,000 in AWS service credits.
- Google: US$40,000 six month membership in the Google Startups For Sustainable Development Program.
In addition to the above prizes, all finalists will benefit from access to a dedicated community of Enterprise Neurosystem experts for mentorship, solution development, and promotional assistance.
Judging and Evaluating the Proposals
The competition kicked off at the beginning of June and accepted written proposals until mid August. During that time, 114 written solution proposals were submitted, from 62 countries (including 19 LDCs and SIDS) across six continents.
Eight judges — their details can be found here — appointed by the Enterprise Neurosystem and UNFCCC TEC conducted several rounds of evaluations and rankings, including expanded written proposals, recorded videos and online presentations and Q&As with the judges.
Proposals were evaluated and ranked based on several of criteria:
- Impact: Demonstrate potential for increasing climate resilience, adaptation capability, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Relevance: Suitability for diverse country context, particularly LDCs and SIDS.
- Alignment: Support of the goals outlined in the TEC rolling workplan (2023–2027) and the Technology Mechanism Joint Work Programme (2023–2027).
- Implementation: Preference given to projects already implemented in developing countries
- Leadership: Projects led by women were viewed favorably.
- Origin: Proposals from LDCs and SIDS received positive consideration.
The judges deliberations led to the selection of 10 finalists, from which a final five were chosen as the Grand Prize winner and runners up:
Grand Prize Winner:
AI-Driven Climate Resilience Platform for SIDS (AI4SIDS) — Team Leader: Dr. Letetia Addison, Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Addison’s winning proposal sought to use artificial intelligence to help small island developing states (SIDS) adapt to the impacts of climate change.
An educator, statistician, and researcher at the University of the West Indies, she has over a decade of experience in statistical modeling, data analysis, and innovative research.
Runners Up:
In addition to the Grand Prize award, four runners up were chosen (a second place and a 3-way tie for third place).
AI-Driven, Precision Irrigation for Sustainable Rice Farming in Nepal — Team leader: Asbina Baral, Nepal.
Chameleon AI — Team leader: Alinafe Kaliwo, Malawi.
EmTrack by ACBA Energy — Team leader: Nair de Sousa, Angola.
Climate Smart Irrigator (Smart Water-Food-Energy Food Nexus Efficiency Irrigation). Team leader: Edmond Ng’walago, Tanzania.
Looking Forward to COP29 and Beyond
Dr. Addison’s will formally receive the Grand Prize at COP29 on November 16, 2024 during a session with an audience of international climate policymakers, technologists, scientists, and financiers.
That session will also see Dr. Addison will present the winning solution proposal. Others contributing to the session will be: Thibyan Ibrahim, TEC Chair; Sophie de Coninck, Director, Means of Implementation, UNFCCC; and Bill Wright, Enterprise Neurosystem Chair.
In addition to the award ceremony and presentation, Dr. Addison will join with Enterprise Neurosystem representatives to participate in other activities at COP29, including a Capacities for Climate Innovation Day on November 18.
Stay tuned for further blog posts about the Grand Challenge, the Grand Prize winner and finalists.
