Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ARCADIA (Advanced platfoRm for ClimAte Data Intelligence and Action)
Reporting period: 2018-02-01 to 2018-07-31
Recent evidence of climate change (droughts, floods and other weather calamities affecting all regions around the world) has resulted in an increasing concern for environmental risks which has already begun to affect global economy. While this concern continues growing, Spanish company Vizzuality has reached, in less than 10 years, a leading position in the brand-new market that has arisen from the exploitation of Big Data thanks to its visualization technology, which deals on how to present information in order to enable people to gain insights most effective into datasets. Focusing on making the most of data visualization to raise awareness on environmental issues, Vizzuality now wants to spread its technology among the European SMEs realm with an innovative tool to report on environmental vulnerabilities and monetize its economic risks aimed to increase adaptive capacity and to protect profitability in an era of erratic weather events. After a 6-months feasibility assessment funded by the European Commission, the outputs of ArcADIA have put the grounds to shape Vizzuality’s technology into a handy Climate Information Service tool, pursuing two objectives: spreading customized climate data visualization among European SMEs, and raising awareness on climate change based on facts inferred from Big Data.
Vizzuality has conducted a 4-stage viability study of this business idea which has led to the design of a 3-layered architecture aimed to upgrade ArcADIA from TRL6 to TRL8. A stronger dissemination strategy is already in the pipeline, with actions concerning a website, meetings and forums; while commercialization plans propose an evolving business model in 4 phases: from a tailored platform focused on big companies from 5 identified sectors already under scope, to a spreading inside and outside those industries, towards a final offering of Climate Information Services for SMEs under subscription.
ArcADIA stands out from competitors since it has been designed to easily bring into reality customization for every company in an effort to change the dynamic of the market for climate data visualization, traditionally focused on big companies and supranational bodies. The success of this tool will maximize the impact of data science by proving its worth in the framework of the fight against climate change, showing its potential to address societal challenges given the usefulness and reliability of its visualizations to promote awareness on climate-related issues.