Alfred Vanderpuije, Mayor of Accra, Ghana

By Alfred Vanderpuije

This week at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, leaders will come together to discuss Africa’s future. One of the three focus themes is the importance of ‘Strategic Infrastructure’ as a foundation for the continent’s growth. As Mayor of Accra and Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, I would say that there are few areas as crucial for infrastructure investment as cities.

Buoyed by an emerging oil and gas industry and a rapidly growing consumer class, Ghana’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the world. Investors are flocking to the country’s capital Accra to take advantage of new business opportunities and become part of this success story. Mastercard recently identified Accra as one of Africa’s top cities in terms of economic growth potential over the next few years. Local and foreign firms are also driving a number of urban development opportunities such as Ghana Cyber City, King City and Appolonia City which aim to set up modern, high-tech hubs within and around Accra.

I welcome these initiatives, however, at the top of my agenda is Accra itself and the transformation of its existing systems and services for the benefit of its citizens and businesses. The truth is we cannot look to Accra’s future opportunities, without looking into the challenges of today.

Accra’s existing infrastructure is being put under increasing strain by an influx of new residents – the city’s population has expanded by over 1 million people – a 35 percent increase in the past decade alone. As we cannot, and will not, put a wall around the city to restrict the arrival of new residents, we can expect this trend to continue.

We must therefore act today to ensure that the city’s systems – from transportation, to water, sanitation, energy, healthcare, public safety, education and administration – are able to accommodate and cope with this influx of new residents.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For instance, today nearly all transportation in Accra is by road, but 70 percent of the vehicles carry only 30 percent of the people – a trend which causes significant traffic jams during peak hours.

Accra also suffers from perennial flooding problems and in 2011 there was extensive loss of life due to flash floods within the city. These problems highlight the extensive modernization required to our sanitation and storm water systems.

At the heart of many of these problems is our inability to finance projects to maintain and transform Accra. The reality is, my Metropolitan Assembly struggles to raise enough revenue for city services due to out-of-date revenue collection systems, tax evasion and fraud.

The government of Ghana and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly are already taking steps to address these challenges. Recently, Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, launched the National Urban Policy Framework and Action Plan to promote the sustainable development of Ghanaian cities and towns. In Accra, we have put in place the Millennium Cities Initiative to raise the standard of living and we are beginning the transformation of many of the city’s systems. The Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project, supported by the U.S. government, also stands to improve waste water treatment for the city’s four million residents.

We recognize we cannot do this work alone. We need to tap into expertise and experience from across public and private sectors and civil society, within Ghana and around the world. We also recognize that the infrastructure we are currently installing has to be designed to withstand the challenges of tomorrow. We must therefore turn to the latest technologies to ensure that our systems are optimized and smarter.

IBM recently offered its expertise to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to help tackle some of the city’s most intractable problems. A team of IBM experts travelled to Accra last year to work alongside our own. Just last week the company presented me with a report which outlines some of the key challenges and possible solutions in areas such as transportation, city services and energy. I also met with Dr. Kamal Bhattacharya, Director of IBM Research-Africa who presented some interesting new solutions specially designed for Africa. 

We see great opportunity for technology in Accra. For example, in the area of revenue collection, we see potential to use mobile payment systems to enable citizens and small businesses to pay for their taxes and city services electronically. Once payment systems are digitized, it will become a lot easier for my administration to identify cases of tax underpayment or fraud.

In the area of transportation, we could also turn to mobile phone data to help us to understand how Accra’s residents move around the city and how we could use that data to enhance our transportation systems to avoid traffic bottlenecks and traffic jams. We have a number of mobile service providers active in Ghana who could act as partners for such work.

In the area of water and sanitation, we could use technology to help monitor and manage our drainage systems and predict possible cases of flooding.

Technology holds great potential in Accra. However, we also recognize that what makes a city safer and smarter are its people. We need to forge a better relationship with our citizens and increase their sense of responsibility for their city. Accra’s residents need to take an interest in caring for the city. Nearly every one of our residents has a mobile phone – this creates the perfect channel for reporting problems and threats to the city’s infrastructure.

Across Africa, cities are growing quickly – economically and demographically. In Accra we need to embrace technologies and show leadership to ensure that our city is not left behind.

Technorati Tags: africa, Big Data, Ghana, IBM Smarter Planet, mobile computing, smarter analytics, Smarter Transportation, WEF 2013

Takreem El-Tohamy, GM, IBM Middle East and Africa

By Takreem El-Tohamy

There’s a wonderful word in Swahili that I think expresses one of the imperatives for the future of Africa. The word is “harambee.” It means pulling together, collaborating and supporting each other. I believe that one of the key factors in the ability of African countries to create sustainable and equitable economic growth will be the emergence of innovation ecosystems. Harambee perfectly captures an essential element of such ecosystems—the ability of institutions and individuals to pull together and build a mutually supportive environment.

Innovation ecosystems are complex organisms that are difficult to create yet tremendously powerful when they work. Think Silicon Valley. They require a melding of all of the capabilities of governments, businesses, financiers, universities, and individuals. Together, these organizations and individuals provide the web of support that makes it easier for startups to launch and grow quickly, and for established companies to innovate more aggressively. With that kind of support, African entrepreneurs and businesses will find it easier to produce new products and services, or even create whole new industries. You can think of an innovation ecosystem as a collective intelligence—harnessed for the good of society.

IBM is committed to helping Africa build successful innovation ecosystems. The latest sign of this willingness is our new IBM Innovation Center in Nairobi, Kenya. It’s a place where people from established companies, universities and startups can tap IBM technology and expertise to help them create solutions to the country’s business and societal challenges. We’re dedicated to helping Kenya fulfill its Vision 2030, which provides a strategy aimed at helping large numbers of Kenyans emerge into the middle class. Here’s a video about the center..

Click here to view the embedded video.

Our company has been doing business in Africa since 1921, when we helped out with the South African census. Today, we are expanding rapidly. We have offices in more than 20 African countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and my native Egypt. The company has helped deliver everything from online banking and dependable mobile phone services to technologies for improving city services and government transparency.

In 2012, IBM established its first research laboratory in Africa—in Nairobi. It’s one of only one dozen such labs worldwide. Here’s a video about the impact we believe the Nairobi lab will have across Africa.

Click here to view the embedded video.

My IBM colleagues and I understand that expanding in Africa comes with a unique set of challenges. Our company must aid in building the capacities of Africa’s people and institutions—including knowledge, technology infrastructure, business sophistication and governance. These are the underpinnings of innovation ecosystems.

What’s the key role for IBM in Africa? To help feed the momentum. As a strategic partner with governments, universities, established businesses and startups, IBM can provide a wealth of technology know-how and problem-solving expertise that helps kick start initiatives and accelerate the speed of change.

Africa is coming into its own. The spirit of harambee is helping to drive progress. And IBM is dedicated to helping African countries, companies and individuals achieve their aspirations.

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Here’s an IBM Blue Paper about what it takes to build innovation ecosystems in Africa.

Technorati Tags: africa, IBM

Gary Swale, Director, Knowledge Dimension, an IBM Business Partner

By Gary Swale and Sandy Carter

Small businesses can no longer ignore the impact of going social.     

In fact, more than 6.1 million South Africans are on Facebook with 100,000 new members registering each month, generating 800 million updates every day.

While large corporations all over the world are leading their countries forward with rapid innovation and expansion, small businesses are playing a vital role in grassroots economic development. Small businesses provide a platform for wider employment and economic opportunity at the local level and, like the small stores and vendors supporting the large anchor store in a mall, the local support larger corporations need to function.

South Africa’s small businesses are no different.   

Sandy Carter, Vice President, Social Business, IBM

There is a wide consensus among economic thinkers that small businesses act as the fuel to power South Africa’s economy. The national government is seeing the huge potential of small businesses, and has initiated efforts to invigorate this sector.

To more efficiently engage employees and customers, and improve sales, small businesses are applying social technologies to collaboration, communication and content management – the connected web of people and assets that impact a given business goal or outcome. These social technologies are then amplified by social media, from blogs and social networking sites to content communities, to reach the most influential audience for maximum brand impact.

Unlike many developed countries, mobile devices play a more critical role in how the social messages are disseminated. By 2016, it is estimated that there will be one billion mobile phones in Africa, and mobile Internet usage in Africa is among the highest in the world.

As a result, significant opportunities exist in South Africa for small businesses to build more social businesses. Small businesses are discovering innovative ways to educate, manage their business and engage with potential customers via mobile networks. That is empowering people in all the diverse ethnic and economic strata that is unique to South African society. If you combine Africa’s mobile internet proliferation with the natural willingness to tell and share stories, the enduring spirit of ubuntu which means I am, because we are, will prevail in any South African social business success story.

Yet small business success in South Africa requires more than tools and technology. Small businesses need to re-imagine business with a social mindset.

Even in today’s highly socialized world, many small South African businesses dismiss the potential of social business, either relegating the idea to the exotic realm of Internet marketing or ignoring the buzz of social marketing as a passing fad.

Now we are seeing that way of thinking changing as South African boomers become more digitally savvy, millennials permeate the workforce and social media becomes a part of daily life.

In other words, South African small business doors are now open for social business.   

Social business can shift a small business’ dynamic from isolation to engagement within seconds by providing vehicles for discovering, growing and propagating its products, services and expertise to local consumers. This shift requires small businesses to take a more active approach to social. Small businesses can establish their own online town square to encourage and monitor interaction with consumers via the social sphere.

In many ways, the balance of power has shifted from the business to the individual. Technology has made it easier for consumers to discover and participate in social networks, to impact both brand perception as well as brand reality – how a small business creates, presents and maintains its content, authenticity, integrity, reputation, commitment and follow-through.

Conversely, a small business can rely too heavily on new-fangled social business methods, and forget how to engage customers on a personal level.

A small business’ best marketing remains a friendly face behind the counter. Social business methods have been the trick to increasing the number of customers on the other side of the counter, either real or virtual.

These mobile social business methods have been most effective in South Africa, and have set an example for the rest of the world’s small businesses.

Technorati Tags: africa, Big Data, Big Data analytics, IBM Smarter Planet, mobile computing, smarter social business, social business, social media

Ben Goldhirsh, CEO, GOOD

By Ben Goldhirsh

Cloud computing is the new mantra for small businesses looking to go green.

That’s important because IT’s carbon footprint has been expanding. Between 2011 and 2020, carbon emissions for worldwide information communication technology (ICT) equipment and services are expected to double from 2 percent to 4 percent of total emissions, according to market research firm Verdantix.

Becoming a green business means more than just eliminating paper. It is about eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. One easy step towards “going green” and significantly decreasing your carbon footprint is to eliminate or reduce energy-consuming on-premises equipment and move your IT to the cloud.

Cloud computing, storing and accessing data and software from remote servers, is changing the way the world does business. The cloud can be accessed from anywhere there’s an Internet connection. The cloud allows increasing amounts of Big Data generated from mobile devices and social channels to be captured, stored and continuously updated in one, central location. This dramatically reduces a business’ power consumption and in turn, energy bills.

When small companies run their own servers, idle time is a considerable problem. Small companies never use 100 percent of their computing power 100 percent of the time – it’s not even close. Most of the time, the server is idle, using power while not doing anything productive. Cloud technology means small companies use only the technology and energy they actually need. In other words, Cloud computing allows small, green businesses to work more efficiently and become even more eco-friendly.

In the U.S. alone, cloud computing will reduce carbon emissions by almost 86 million metric tons per year by 2020, generating a potential energy savings of more than $12 billion/year. Businesses, both established and start-ups, large or small can all go cloud, and go green, at the same time.

For example, large companies moving to the cloud can reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent. Small businesses save even more energy than their larger counterparts – up to 90 percent.

To help spur wide adoption of these technologies, cloud providers, and more specifically managed service providers, are uniquely positioned to assist small businesses in devising and implementing a Green IT strategy. Guidance from local technology providers goes a long way to help shape sustainable, socially responsible – and profitable – green businesses.

Gartner predicts the worldwide cloud computing market will grow to more than $14 billion in 2013. This growth indicates the small businesses that make up 65 percent of the total business community are actively pursuing cloud computing as a way to keep costs down, improve processes and transition to a mobile workforce.

In addition to the green benefits of cloud computing, such services are also lowering the barrier to entry into business for many SMBs, such as eliminating the need to establishing expensive in-house IT capabilities. Also, cloud computing levels the playing field and enables start-ups and SMBs to act like, and operate like, organizations of much greater size and scope.

With SMBs serving as the growth engine for many countries, cloud computing can spur the growth of local industries and local economies in environmentally friendly ways.

Technorati Tags: cloud, cloud computing, green cloud, ibm cloud, IBM Smarter Planet, smarter systems, SMB, start-ups

Uyi Stewart, Chief Scientist, IBM Research-Africa

By Richard Silberman, Writer/Researcher, IBM Communications

When Osamuyimen (Uyi) Stewart left his native Nigeria 23 years ago to attend graduate school at Cambridge University, computer science was still just a concept in Africa. Although Stewart had learned some programming languages in college, he had never actually used a computer to develop an application.

This year, Stewart will return to a very different Africa, moving his family to Nairobi, Kenya to serve as chief scientist at IBM Research-Africa, IBM’s first research lab on the continent. In his new role, which he officially started in August working from the T.J. Watson Research Center in New York, Stewart spearheads innovation for a vast emerging market that is rapidly growing and embracing new technologies.

For Stewart, who previously worked at the IBM Services Innovation Lab and was responsible for technical strategy and program management across eight global labs, his return to Africa is filled with meaning and emotion. Whereas a quarter century ago using an actual computer was just a dream, today Stewart leads development of advanced systems to help solve some of Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Furthermore, one of the mandates of the lab is to nurture IT skills and provide opportunities for young Africans, helping lay the groundwork for Africa to become a global IT leader.

“There is a massive wind of change going on in Africa right now,” Stewart said. “This is my chance to give back and make a difference.”

A lab to leapfrog the competition

Today IBM has locations in more than 20 African countries. IBM Research-Africa is the latest sign of Africa’s importance as a market and potential as a seedbed of innovation. The lab is not only IBM’s first in Africa, but one of the first research facilities for any major IT company on the continent.

“This lab gives us a foothold to develop local solutions to Africa’s challenges in an African way and truly leapfrog the competition,” Stewart said. Solving challenges in an “African way” means understanding and working with African governments; appreciating the nuances of African cultures; and, above all, delivering solutions on a mobile platform.

“Many people don’t have PCs in Africa. They have mobile phones — and only a fraction of those are smart phones,” Stewart said. “How do you innovate and deliver solutions with such infrastructural constraints? That’s the challenge we face and I am so excited about it!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eager to innovate on a mobile platform

IBM chose Kenya for this lab because the country is eager to support innovation and has a strong information and communication technology (ICT) policy and history of mobile technology innovation. Nairobi is a key hub for IBM’s business coverage of East African countries.

Kenya is home to the revolutionary M-Pesa mobile payment system, which is used widely across East Africa. Stewart hopes to build upon this foundation of innovation to provide solutions for a host of Africa’s challenges, including water shortages and traffic congestion.

One of Stewart’s first solutions as chief scientist exemplifies his concept of a uniquely African problem and solution. The e-government solution provides crucial information, via mobile phones, about obtaining a Kenyan national ID. The solution also empowers citizens to report corruption in the ID application process.

For Stewart, the opportunity to lead innovation of this nature is a pinnacle of his career. “Everything comes together in this role as chief scientist,” Stewart said. “My focus has always been the interface between human and computer, and now Africa provides a living laboratory to do this work.”

Keeping talent on the continent

Leaving Africa to study or find work in the United States or Europe, as Stewart did years ago, has often been the norm for bright young Africans. IBM Research-Africa is committed to help reverse this exodus of talent through initiatives like its Resident Science Program and collaboration with local universities, government agencies and companies.

“We want to train Africans, help them innovate and keep them here,” Stewart said. “I’m already getting unsolicited emails from Africans in the diaspora who want to come back and be a part of this lab.”

To illustrate the significance of this one new research lab on a huge, complex continent, Stewart cites a southern African word, Ubuntu, which means, “All for one and one for all.”

“As an African, I know that we have 54 countries, but there is truly a shared feeling across the continent of each country being part of a greater whole,” Stewart said. “With IBM Research-Africa, I’m able to return home and be an agent for change. My goodness, I am living out the true African spirit!”

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Read more about IBM’s commitment to Africa.

Related links:

http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2013/01/technology-in-africa-extracting-insights-from-big-data.html

http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2013/02/technology-in-africa-building-innovation-ecosystems.html

Technorati Tags: africa, Big Data, IBM Research Africa, IBM Smarter Planet, innovation, mobile computing, Osamuyimen Stewart, smart phones, Uyi Stewart

Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, University of Notre Dame

By Rev. Robert Dowd

When you combine private-sector expertise with top-notch education, future leaders enter the workforce with a foundation of unmatched strength and potential. As a leading Catholic research university, the University of Notre Dame works with a variety of partners, including corporations such as IBM, to support young people in their efforts to develop their leadership potential and the skills needed to contribute positively to the flourishing of their societies.

Recently, I have had the privilege of working on the Leadership Education and Development (or LEAD) program. This innovative pilot program brings together MBA students from East Africa with Notre Dame Faculty and students and business experts from IBM.  The program aims to help nurture the business leaders of the future through intense academic training and exposure to real-world business challenges. This program embodies Notre Dame’s commitment to developing the next generation of business leaders, technicians, scientists and social scientists and highlights the important role corporations can play in skill development.

As part of the program, six of East Africa’s top MBA students journeyed to South Bend to undertake a portion of their studies within our community. In a vibrant, successful intellectual interchange, they have taken classes alongside Notre Dame’s own MBA students and absorbed the real-life experiences of some of IBM’s most accomplished leaders.

A campus-wide collaboration, the LEAD program was kick started by the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Mendoza College of Business, and the Engineering, Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship Masters (ESTEEM) Program, and IBM.

(L to R) Father Bob Dowd; Dorcas Magoba (Uganda Martyrs University); Garry Kizito (Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda); Annrita Njiru (Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya); Peter Ochuodho (Strathmore University); Phiona Musoke (Makerere University Business School); and Dorcas Otieno (Strathmore University).

The curriculum, taught jointly by our business school faculty and IBM executives, combines a strong academic foundation with international business perspective. Not only have these future leaders gained insight into conducting business across borders, but they also equipped themselves to return home with skills for careers of which they, Notre Dame, their home universities, and future employers can be proud.

Hailing from Uganda and Kenya, the six LEAD students represent the next generation of Africa’s leaders, a young and highly capable group. These young people want to be problem solvers and job creators. They want to build accountable and responsive institutions in the private and public sector. Through our private-sector partnership with IBM, we hope to help them reach their goals of bringing about positive change in their societies. 

What have they told us about the LEAD experience? Gaining access to the inner workings of a global enterprise was invaluable. Learning from IBM executives who have built solid businesses in growth markets, some in their own countries, they dove down into the nitty gritty of leadership, skills, technologies, processes and management.

As any executive can attest, just as important as business acumen is the ability to build a wide net of relationships, augmenting one’s career and opening undiscovered doors. Our LEAD program has helped both African and American students form solid friendships outside of the classroom, sure to be continued for years.

As a result of this program, our current business school students gleaned a much more realistic picture of business outside of the U.S. As many of our graduates head into international ventures, we’ll see this enrichment well into the future. In addition, all of our students, whether from Africa, the U.S., or elsewhere, have had the rare opportunity to communicate across continents and cultures.

“We’ve had almost too many dinner invitations!” one student told us. Whether cheering at a Notre Dame football game (during its undefeated season!), volunteering at a tailgate concession stand, or sharing Thanksgiving dinner, the cross-cultural connections on both sides will not be forgotten.

Stay tuned for what the future holds for these promising achievers as they return to their home countries and put their skills to work. We know their success in Africa will exceed even the profound impact they made on us.

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Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC is a Notre Dame political scientist who researches religion, development, and political culture in Africa. He is also the director of the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, part of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

Technorati Tags: Africa LEAD, East Africa, global warming, IBM Smarter Planet, Kenya, Notre Dame, smarter business

Nearly four years into the Smarter Planet journey, IBMers have undertaken more than 2,000 engagements with governments and businesses aimed helping them use cutting-edge technologies to make their systems for getting things done work better. These encounters are all over the map, geographically and figuratively. But important lessons are being learned. And, in particular, one interesting pattern is emerging. For organizations of all types, good outcomes depend on addressing the yin and yang of building a smarter planet: a combination of improvisation and preparedness–or long term planning.

Improvisation: In the realm of smarter planet problems and solutions, there’s so much variability that no single blueprint will fit every overtly similar situation. Organizations have to be flexible and creative to get stuff done. They can’t let the need for a master plan or budget-tightening pressures paralyze them.

Preparedness: While creative fixes can help city leaders manage their systems for the short-term, the longer-term vitality of cities, countries and organizations depends on leaders adopting a mission and a strategy for achieving it. But even that’s not enough. They have to anticipate the challenges to come–everything from next year’s big storm to the impacts of climate change to the next big financial shock–and build resilient systems capable of withstanding them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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A good example of improvisation comes from Nairobi, Kenya. Throughout the world, many cities are starting to roll out vast networks of video cameras trained on highways and intersections. The  goal is to use video images to provide up-to-the-minute reads on traffic conditions–so local authorities can manage traffic better by changing traffic signals, rerouting, or sending police or public works employees to address problems as they emerge. In Nairobi, rather than wait for an extensive deployment of its own video cameras, the city made a deal with a local Internet service provider that had installed some cameras so it could show live traffic situations on its Web portal. They have plans to buy and deploy their own network of cameras. “But, in the mean time, they’re working in partnership with a private company. They’re making do,” says Wendy Lung, the director of corporate strategy for IBM Venture Capital Group.

Lung was one of six IBM executives who recently spent three weeks in Nairobi working with local authorities to help them come up with a plan for modernizing the transportation system. They’re participating in IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge as members of the Executive Service Corps, a free, volunteer effort modeled on the US Peace Corps that’s aimed at providing expert advice to cities around the world while helping IBM train leaders capable of dealing with the cultural, political and financial challenges inherent in doing business globally.

The Nairobi leaders didn’t see their arrangement with the ISP as the long term solution, but it’s a practically approach to problem solving that works and helps them get stuff done. And it raises the question: What other creative approaches could the Kenyan government leaders take to accomplish their goals? Lung and her colleagues had creative problem solving in mind when they made recommendations at the end of their engagement in Nairobi. One of them: That a wide variety of government agencies in Kenya–and, indeed, across East Africa–would to well to share a single cloud computing set up for handling many of their transportation-management needs. This would make it easier to share information between government agencies, and they’d save money, as well.

But while Nairobi’s short-term approach to getting access to traffic video was smart, inspired improvisation only goes so far. Consider last year’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami. It’s impossible to respond adequately to a disaster of that magnitude. So it’s vital to take the long view, anticipate potential problems, and build systems capable of avoiding them or diminishing their impact.

This approach depends to a great extent on honesty and transparency. Organizations and societies have to be willing to confront their vulnerabilities and make the policy changes and financial investments necessary for dealing with them.

Colin Harrison, an IBM Smarter Cities technical strategist, has traveled to Japan repeatedly since the quake to help out with recovery and preparedness. A surprise discovery in the aftermath, he believes, teaches us a great deal about the importance of facing our societal demons head on.

The Japanese coastline has cliffs some 60-80 meters high that are pierced by rivers draining the inland plain. These rivers have carved narrow valleys ending in bays. There are many small fishing villages along this coast. When the tsunami struck, the wall of water entered the bays and the steep valley walls acted like funnels—so the flood surged high and devastated the fishing villages. In the aftermath of the quake,  people discovered long-forgotten, centuries-old stone markers in these valleys that are inscribed with warnings not to build houses below the level of the markers. Japanese ancestors knew of the risks of major tsunamis, but over the centuries their descendants forgot or decided to take the risk.

Harrison’s takeaway: “Prepare for the next disasters by making societies more resilient—because disasters will surely come.” One of the core principles for achieving resilience is to create diversity within systems. That way, if one element fails, others can succeed and help balance out the losses. The Internet is designed based on that principle. In the district east of the Japanese city of Sendai, which was devastated by the quake and tsunami, the people living there had become critically dependent on one form of economic activity, farming. When the disaster struck, their entire economy was destroyed, since the salt water has made their land infertile for decades to come. IBM is now working with universities and farmers to establish new approaches to agriculture, such as hydroponic farming.

Resilience has become a major theme for IBM researchers in Japan, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Much of this work is being done in collaboration with governments and universities. But there’s a private sector angle, as well. A group of major corporations has become so concerned about the resilience of societies and industrial infrastructure that they have formed a loose confederation, called the Resilience Action Initiative, to proactively address issues arising over the next decades due to the combination of population growth and resource constraints.

It’s early days for the initiative, but IBM has begun gathering information and experiences that can help build a new methodology for creating resilience. In fact, it treats some of the Executive Services Corps engagements as”scouting parties” to help shape their thinking, says Harrison.

Which takes us back to the yin and yang of the smarter planet. In a time with so many economic, political and social conflicts in play, the push and pull between improvisation and preparedness is shaping up to be one of the important dialectical relationships of the 21st Century–and one that won’t be easy to work out.

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Read a white paper about IBM’s commitment to Africa.

Here’s a white paper about IBM’s Transportation Maturity Model.

Here’s a study by UN-HABITAT about Nairobi’s economic prospects.

Technorati Tags: IBM, Japan, Kenya, Nairobi, Resilience Action Initiative

Cahill

Across North America, drought-stricken farmers are facing historically small harvests, raising concerns about global shortages and increasing food prices. This summer’s drought should be a strong reminder that we have to manage our water resources more carefully.

In many countries, the competition for water between the countryside and cities is intensifying.  Farmers  face an uphill battle in the competition for water since industry can afford to pay much more than they can, according to the Earth Policy Institute.

This battle over water is likely to intensify. As the world’s levels of CO2 emissions continue to rise, the frequency of extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves is expected to intensify. Heat waves are expected to further strain the world’s water resources, especially in areas where water demand is increasing and water supplies are shrinking. The challenge worldwide is to meet today’s water needs while putting in place innovative strategies to address future requirements.

One of the best ways to promote sustainability is to make consumers aware of the true cost of water.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What we pay to the water company each month only reflects the price to bring clean water to our taps. It does not reflect the value of the resource in each of its various uses. Water management, resource expansion, environmental protection and infrastructure maintenance are expensive, and much of the cost is redistributed through state and federal taxes, as well as local and regional bond measures, according to the American Water Resources Association.

Transparency about the real cost of water should be a fundamental principle, irrespective of the source of funds that underwrite the supply.

Sullivan

For example, as a nation, we must begin to treat water as we would any other scarce resource and learn to live within our means. This requires efficiency and planning for sustainable use in the face of increasing demands for water, particularly in agriculture, industry and power production. Concern over the intensive use of groundwater, deterioration of surface waters, and various state and federal nutrient and water management regulations, are making us reexamine the efficiency of water and nutrient management strategies.

A study by University of California at Davis scientists shows that plants only use half the nitrogen fertilizer that farmers apply. The other half travels down through the soil, eventually making its way into local drinking water supplies where nitrate contamination can make the water unfit for drinking.

It’s a serious problem that’s getting worse.

Research shows that coupling the use of soil moisture measurement technology with irrigation controls can reduce water application and nutrient runoff by 50 percent – and those efficiencies also mean reduced energy use because less water is pumped overall.

Furthermore, increasing drought and aridity around the world, linked to climate change and land degradation, are becoming a major threat to food security and poverty reduction efforts, according to the United Nations.  Since 1950, 1.9 billion hectares (4.7 billion acres) of land around the world has become degraded, a problem that has reduced harvests, contributed to changing rainfall patterns and increased the vulnerability of millions of people. Each year, on average, another 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of land a year is lost to the problem.

Applying analytic insight can assess drought conditions, communicate threats and trigger actions in a systematic and efficient manner as drought conditions intensify. Although progress is being made, much more work is required to develop effective systems across the globe and to provide information at a scale that is meaningful for drought planning at the local level by water managers and other decision makers.

Extreme events – such as the extreme floods and droughts around the world in recent years – often provide stimulus for action. They provide the opening for change to take place.

Technorati Tags: IBM, UgMo

The lab, IBM Research – Africa, will be located in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and is expected to eventually have additional branches in other countries. Even before establishing the lab, IBM Research has been active on the continent. For instance, through the mFarming project, it’s developing mobile data communications technologies that will provide Kenyan farmers with advisory services that can help them increased their yields.

IBM has been opening research laboratories in emerging markets since the mid-1990s, and, always, one of the goals is syncing with the concerns of the people and contributing to economic and social development. This approach reflects the company’s recognition that emerging markets don’t necessarily emerge on their own; sometimes countries and regions need help in capacity building. Simply put: You have to help bake the economic pie before you can cut yourself a slice.

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Indeed, in China, India and Brazil, markets where IBM earlier set up research labs, there is a sustained effort by the labs to be both socially responsible and reap a sizable business payoff. These are now significant markets for IBM.

Our labs are not silos of research. We operate a network of scientists who cross pollinate ideas across the emerging markets–and the developed markets, as well.  What we learn in Brazil concerning natural resources we apply in China, Africa and Australia.  Our Internet of Things innovations in China we apply in Brazil.

China was the first emerging market where we established a research foothold–back in 1995, with a lab in Beijing. We expanded to Shanghai in 2008. In addition to developing science and technologies that are relevant to China’s auto, banking, telecommunications and other industries, the labs work closely with the government and academia to drive China-centric innovations. One early development was voice recognition technology that could be tuned for specific languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese.

India came next, in 1998. IBM Research now has offices in Delhi and Bangalore. Among the lab’s notable achievements: It was the first IBM lab outside the United States to have led an IBM Research Big Bet, the company’s program for launching long-term, high-investment exploratory research projects. This bet focused on mobility. One of the results was Spoken Web, technology for enabling people who are illiterate or disabled to use voice commands to access information and do business on the Internet. Governments and mobile carriers are trying out the technology in India and elsewhere around the world.

On behalf of an Indian telecommunications company, IBM Research – India and scientists in the United States developed a technology for processing of a specific kind of information called Call Data Records–which tell who called who, when, how long they spoke, etc. This info is shared in near-real-time with the company’s billing, operations planning and marketing systems, making it possible to manage a network more efficiently and serve customers better. It’s now being used by several telecommunications companies worldwide.

IBM Research – Brazil was the last emerging-market lab before the Africa announcement. It opened in 2010, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.  The lab director, Dan Dias, had previously run the India lab, so he was attuned to the capacity-building philosophy. The focus areas include natural resources development and sustainability, large event management (the Olympics and World Cup soccer are coming to Rio), and microelectronics. Already, the lab has contributed weather simulation technology to Rio’s intelligent operations center.

In another project, the Brazil lab is building a “Citizen Science” platform called WikiFlora. The goal is to enable collaborative research in biodiversity, allowing researchers and non-scientists alike to capture, analyze and share information. One creative aspect of the WikiFlora is an interactive computer game designed to engage people. “This will enable a culture of innovation by including citizens in the scientific process,” says Dias.

Innovation ecosystem. Culture of innovation. These may sound like squishy terms. But this kind of capacity building is essential to the future of emerging markets. That’s why it’s an essential part of IBM Research’s global strategy.

Traceability has become a hot topic as global companies try to stay ahead of real-time consumer reaction that spreads like wildfire on social media.  From fruits and vegetables  to pharmaceuticals, traceability systems are being used to track product ingredients, movements and ownership throughout the supply chain to improve products and services.
This was a major topic in February at the first meeting of the Innovations for Environmental Sustainability Council, which the IBM formed with the World Environment Center and companies including Boeing, CH2M Hill, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, F. Hoffman-La Roche, General Motors, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson and Walt Disney.

We agreed that as advances in technology have made it easier to acquire and analyze information about product development, distribution and use, the issue of traceability has moved front-and-center for business and competitive strategy.

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The speed of supply chains has created more challenges for companies, where even minor missteps can have major consequences.  Because supply chain issues can have a lingering impact on brands, the effectiveness of traceability has become a concern of supply chain executives and chief marketing officers alike.

Take the food industry as an example, where the need to monitor and trace the safety of the food supply has never been more crucial, or more difficult. As food systems become increasingly global, more producers, distributors and retailers must follow unique standards of quality, processing and accountability for multiple countries, which compounds the complexity of the task.

The implications are real:  Up to 30 percent of populations in industrialized countries  suffer from food-borne illnesses each year, and about 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted each year around the world.

But we are making progress.  China’s Shandong Commercial Group, the world’s largest producer of pork, has stepped up its traceability efforts to track and monitor meat as it moves from farm to market.  They are using software, sensors and GPS technology to construct a system throughout its regional supply chain.  If illness strikes, as it did with the swine flu pandemic in Europe during the last decade, it can be quickly identified, isolated and addressed.

That’s an example of smarter supply chain management that’s interconnected and collaborative, with networked processes that improve efficiency and transparency.  This approach makes it easier for organizations to achieve end-to-end traceability of their inventories, from raw materials to product components and finished products.

Such traceability systems benefit businesses and consumers alike.  Applications can include consumer safety, temperature tracking, speedy product recalls, and reduced spoilage and waste.

With the proliferation of smart technology, predictive modeling for supply chains has become a reality.  Traceability technologies can be integrated into business processes so companies can prevent problems before they crop up.  When materials and products are equipped with sensors and GPS technologies, companies can verify whether bananas are truly organic, or where antibiotics were compounded. Wineries can calculate the best time to harvest grapes, and furniture manufacturers can learn the provenance of lumber.

The era of traceability is in full swing. Companies that embrace the systems, processes and practices of smarter supply chains can introduce innovations that  improve the relationships with their customers, strengthen the integrity and performance of their operations, reduce costs, and advance their competitive position.

Terry F. Yosie is President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Environment Center in Washington, D.C.

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