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ICT and Big Data

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Sedex Global, World Bank Institute Developing Open Supply Chain Platform

Responsible supply chain specialists Sedex Global have announced a partnership with the World Bank Institute to develop Open Supply Chain Platform — a new initiative to address global gaps in the availability and visibility of responsible supply chain data.

Ford Fined Nearly $3M for Violation of Air-Quality Laws in California

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has fined Ford Motor Company $2.96 million for violations of air-quality laws related to the sale of vehicles with non-compliant On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) systems in California.OBD systems constantly monitor critical engine and emission control system operations, alert drivers to problems and provide service technicians detailed information that can be used to quickly and accurately pinpoint malfunctions causing operational problems and excessive pollution from vehicles. The systems are a key part of California’s efforts to reduce pollution caused by malfunctioning vehicles.

Cisco Taps ‘Internet of Things’ to Make Hamburg a Smart City

Cisco and the City of Hamburg have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that foresees the creation of pilot projects around smart traffic, smart street lighting, infrastructure sensing and remote citizen services.The MoU enables access for Hamburg to the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities™ (S+CC) reference architectures and provides a framework for defining and evaluating various related initiatives. Cisco also will help the City of Hamburg to develop a digital agenda.

Ford Launches New Buying Tool to Help Businesses Keep Fleet Costs, Emissions Low

The Ford Motor Company has developed a new tool — the Ford Fleet Purchase Planner™ — designed to help businesses purchase a better fleet, keeping in mind cost and environmental concerns. “The tool offers guidance in choosing from Ford’s vehicle lineup, while helping to manage cost and informing buyers how their choices will aid in reducing their company’s carbon footprint,” Ford said in a release.A finalist for the 2014 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award by INFORMS, the largest association for professionals in analytics, the planner is available only to companies maintaining fleet vehicles.

Georgia's Flint River Partnership Taps IBM for Data-Driven Agriculture Solutions

IBM has announced a collaboration with the Flint River Partnership to deploy new conservation measures to enhance agricultural efficiency by up to 20 percent. The Flint River Partnership (which includes the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and The Nature Conservancy) together with the University of Georgia and IBM, will support farmers in the Lower Flint River Basin of Georgia in making more informed irrigation-scheduling decisions to conserve water, improve crop yields and mitigate the impact of future droughts.

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Greenpeace: Apple, Facebook, Google Leading Shift to 'Green' Internet While Amazon Lags

Apple, Facebook and Google are leading a growing number of tech companies that are working to power the Internet with 100 percent renewable energy, signaling a major shift in the sector over the past two years, according to a new report released today by Greenpeace. Those companies are leaving behind Amazon Web Services, the company that hosts the data for many of the Internet’s most popular services, which powers its infrastructure with polluting energy sources that contribute to global warming, the report found.

SAP Will Power Data Centers, Facilities With 100 Percent Renewable Electricity in 2014

SAP today announced that it will power all its data centers and facilities globally with 100 percent renewable electricity starting in 2014. The shift will help minimize the company’s carbon footprint as it moves to a cloud business model, and will help eliminate carbon emissions caused by its customers’ systems by moving them into a green cloud.

Microsoft, Google, Intel Join Obama’s Climate Data Initiative

Microsoft, Google and several other companies last week joined a new White House program to launch a suite of climate data projects aimed at serving businesses, governments and the public.The Climate Data Initiative calls on the private sector to build tools using government datasets that will make communities “more resilient to climate change and to forge cross-sector partnerships to make those tools as useful as possible.”More than 100 datasets, web services and tools related to coastal flooding and sea level rise are now publicly available at data.gov/climate. The site will expand over time to cover other climate-related topics, including human health, energy infrastructure and the food supply.

WWF Unveils Updated Tool for Quantifying Water-Related Risks for All Industries & Countries

Water crises ranked third among 10 global risks of highest concern in 2014, according to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Perception Survey, and water risk is on the agendas of business and investors as never before. So today, to coincide with World Water Day, WWF unveils its updated Water Risk Filter.

Ford to Gather Data on Energy Use, Driving Patterns at New Employee EV Charging Stations

Today, Ford Motor Company announced a partnership with GE through which it will install electric vehicle charging stations at more than 60 of its offices, product development campuses and manufacturing facilities across the US and Canada. In a Google hangout hosted today by Triple Pundit, Ford's Director of Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure, Mike Tinskey, said the initiative will begin this month with the installation of the GE WattStation at Ford's headquarters in Michigan.“We know that a growing electrified vehicle infrastructure is key to making plug-in vehicles a viable option for more consumers. Ford is committed to doing its part to help develop that infrastructure,” Tinskey said.

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In This Age of Big Data, What Does Ethical Advertising Look Like?

Part of the reason I eat less junk food these days is because I don't really know what it is anymore. I have nothing against fat and sugar, but junk food is full of stuff I no longer recognize. A homemade cookie is one thing, Diet Coke is something else. If I put stuff in my body, I want to understand it.This seems modest to me. I am not an organic foods zealot, but I am drifting that way because mainstream food production is economizing too much. That means more permutations (emphasis on "mutation") of additives, crap, filler, and who-knows-what. If the rise of Chipotle indicates anything, it is that these types of concerns are mainstream.

Unilever Using New App to Assess Suppliers' Sustainability Progress

Unilever is using the new Greenlight Assessments iPad app from Muddy Boots Software to gain immediate access to sustainability progress from its agricultural suppliers, according to Muddy Boots. Greenlight offers a portable data-collection solution and enables companies to collaborate with its suppliers on any type of audit or assessment, allowing information to be shared both up and down the supply chain.

New Ericsson-Philips Partnership Brightening Cities, Improving Mobile Broadband Connectivity

Ericsson, leading provider of communications technology and services, has joined forces with Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, to launch a new connected LED street lighting model. Ericsson says the partnership will solve two major issues that cities are facing today: improving network performance in dense urban areas while providing high-quality, energy-efficient public lighting.Philips and Ericsson combine the benefits of mobile connectivity and LED lighting in a ''lighting-as-a-service'' model for cities. It allows city authorities to offer space within their connected lightpoles to network service providers for mobile broadband infrastructure.

Carbon Analytics: Supply Chain Carbon Footprint Measurement Made Easy

How big is your firm’s carbon footprint? The answer to this question is becoming increasingly critical to business reputation and success. Mounting government carbon-reduction mandates and growing pressure from savvy consumers and investors means successful businesses must find a way to measure and mitigate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide also has become a business liability — it decreases firm value by $212,000 for every 1,000 metric tons produced, according to a 2013 KPMG report.

Tech Firms Face Increasing Expectations to Respect Human Rights

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center has released a 10-page briefing calling on information and communications technology (ICT) companies around the world to maximize their positive contribution to human rights, and to avoid abuses.Since 2005, Business & Human Rights Resource Center has invited companies to respond publicly to human rights concerns raised by civil society. Over 220 of these approaches have been to ICT firms, which have a response rate of 70 percent. In 2005-2006, only four percent of the companies invited to respond to concerns were from the ICT sector — by 2012-2013, this figure increased to 13 percent.

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SAP, BMW Co-Developing Mobility Services for the 'Connected Car'

SAP AG and BMW Group Research and Technology announced today they have co-developed a personalized technology infrastructure for in-vehicle mobility services as part of a joint innovation project. The prototype utilizes the SAP HANA® Cloud Platform and will provide personalized services to drivers based on their location and route.

Companies Can Now Fight Deforestation Through Crowdsourced Online Forest Monitoring

Data from Global Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring and alert system, is now available on Esri's ArcGIS Online GIS cloud service. By using a portal on Esri's platform to access GFW satellite data and crowdsourced information, users can add maps, datasets and applications to their forest projects and better analyze indicators of forest change.Global Forest Watch is a partnership of more than 40 organizations led by the World Resources Institute (WRI), which uses GIS maps and data to promote sustainable forest management and policy.

SAP Crowdsourcing Millennials' Next Big Ideas in Utilities, Connected Car Solutions

SAP today announced the 2013 winners of its Global Connected Car and Utility of Tomorrow Innovation contests. Attracting submissions from university students worldwide, SAP narrowed down the list of finalists and selected winners who this summer will get the opportunity to refine and implement their proposals with the help of industry experts.With the goal of exploring the path to commercial adoption for their ideas, winners will spend a week this summer working alongside engineers from SAP’s contest sponsors, such as San Diego Gas & Electric.

China Smart-Grid Spending Eclipses US' for First Time

China spent more on smart grids than the US for the first time in 2013, with the $4.3 billion it invested accounting for nearly a third of the world’s total, Bloomberg reports.Though global spending rose almost 5 percent to $14.9 billion, North American investment declined as much as 33 percent to $3.6 billion, according to data released Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Unilever, Pepsi, M&S Launch App to Further Sustainable Agriculture Worldwide

A group of global food and beverage companies are using the launch of a new carbon-management web app to call for greater industry collaboration on agricultural sustainability.Members of The Cool Farm Institute (CFI) — including PepsiCo, Unilever, Heineken, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Yara and Fertilizers Europe — have spearheaded the development of an online tool to help farmers assess and improve the environmental and economic performance of their businesses.

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