Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Microsoft will collaborate on applying digital solutions to support NRCan’s sustainable development and climate action research.
“Climate change is real,” said Seamus O’Regan Jr., minister of natural resources. “Combatting climate change requires innovation and collaboration. Microsoft’s digital technologies will support workers and the sustainable development of our natural resources. This is how we get to net zero.”
The collaboration will see NRCan and Microsoft Canada share expertise and use cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI) services to build a platform for national and global science cooperation.
It’s worth noting that the initiative is a first for NRCan. Along with both Microsoft Canada and Microsoft AI for Earth partners, the collaboration will offer a model for future public and private technology sector collaboration to provide technology, resources and expertise to people working to solve humanitarian issues and create a more sustainable, accessible world.
Microsoft shared a few examples of projects it will work on with NRCan. That includes developing an ‘Energy Star Detective,’ a tool using machine learning to identify online misuse, non-compliance and misrepresentation of the Energy Star name and mark. Another project will use AI and machine learning to identify patterns in electric vehicle (EV) charging data to provide insights for electric utilities. Finally, the last example Microsoft shared was producing an interactive map of mining locations across Canada with layers to represent different structures found on mine sites.
Advancements in AI and machine learning can bring several improvements to science, research, production, resource extraction and other activities that fall under the NRCan mandate.
The Microsoft collaboration is part of a wider NRCan effort to grow the AI capacity of scientists and researchers. The agency recently launched its Digital Accelerator to that same end. Those interested can view a full list of current AI projects here.
Source: Government of Canada