IE School of Science and Technology Kicks Off Sustainability Datathon
IE School of Science and Technology launched the IE Sustainability Datathon, where students will use AI and machine learning to address a water supply challenge presented by Acciona Agua.
The three-week data challenge requires participants to develop machine learning models and forecast filtered water demand and consumption for the Villarrubia de los Ojos municipality in Spain using Acciona Agua data.
Frank Zamora, Chief Information Technology Officer at Acciona Agua spoke to Sci-Tech students about Industry 5.0, the water cycle, and the challenge they need to address.
“We’re talking about a challenge located in the water supply phase of the water cycle, so it has to do with the fact that we need to get water in our households, and supply water to the different centers of populations,” he said.
Ikhlaq Sidhu, Dean of IE School of Science and Technology explained the power of technology such as AI in finding sustainability solutions.
“Technology is a really big driver in terms of, you know, solving problems in sustainability,” he said.
Building on this idea, Gonzalo de la Cámara, Director of Center for Water and Climate Adaptation at IE emphasized that technologies should be seen as a means to an end, not a panacea.
“When you have this wealth of technologies, you sometimes feel that everything will be sorted out by technology,” he said. “We need you to be technical, but we need you to have a wider picture in mind as well.”
The Datathon’s evaluation criteria is based on two pillars: the technical and business criteria, with the top three teams winning prizes of €3000, €1500 and €1000.
A total of 90 students are participating in the Datathon from different master and bachelor programs, including the Bachelor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Master in Computer Science and Business Technology.
“We’re [Acciona Agua] really happy to be here and I think it’s going to be a very good opportunity to start creating those links between the academic world and the industry world,” Zamora said.