Using sensor network and weather data to inform irrigation planning and water management

01

INTRO

Climate change is increasingly threatening agriculture around the world, including in Egypt, where UNDP set out to address the problem through data innovation, in collaboration with the Faculty of Computers and Information at Cairo University. The challenge to farmers, and the lack of data, comes from unexpected shifts in rainfall and planting seasons. Most agricultural producers rely on historic data, which is increasingly unreliable in a shifting climate. In order to create a predictive model, UNDP Egypt established two sources: data from the sensors network Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, and local and international weather station data, a combination that proved to reveal insights for decision-makers in the area of water management.

SDGs

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Methodolgies

Data innovation

Countries

Egypt

Funded

Yes

Start Date

2016

End Date

02

MULTIMEDIA

Partners

Cairo University

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Quotes

“We believe that now ... it's time for the Arab nations to rise again through science and innovation."

Tamer Taha, Founder of Yomken

Human-centered design is a philosophy, not a precise set of methods, but one that assumes that innovation should start by getting close to users and observing their activities.

Donald A. Norman, Co, Founder of Nielsen Norman Group

The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing – building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.

David Kelley, Founder of IDEO

We spend a lot time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it.

Dr. Prabhjot Singh, Director of Systems Design at the Earth Institute

It’s not ‘us versus them’ or even ‘us on behalf of them.’ For a design thinker it has to be ‘us with them'.

Tim Brown, CEO and President of IDEO

The agenda specifically recognizes youth as “critical agents of change”. To ensure the success of the 2030 Agenda, we need all young people on board - all of you, young activists, innovators, disruptors and trailblazers.

Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors

Failure is an option here. if things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors

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Peter Diamandis, Executive Chairman of the X Prize Foundation

The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.

Linus Pauling, American Chemist

We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we make progress.

Richard Feynman, Noble Prize Winning Physicist