Honorable Mention Winner World Bank Big Data Innovation Challenge

Published on 8 February 2017 by Saskia van Pelt

The World Bank launched a global call to find big data solutions that addressed issues in the critical challenge of Food security and nutrition. The goal was to help better understand the impacts of climate change and positively influences decisions by using big data effectively. Weather Impact has taken up this challenge and created the innovate Banana Network. With our application we are recognized as Honorable Mention Winner by the World Bank.

Banana production is highly sensitive to the impact of global warming. The Banana Network is an artificial neural network trained by big data on global weather and banana production. It provides local producers reliable information on their estimated yields and can be used to assess productivity in a warming climate. The model uses open source big data, is scalable and has unlimited training capacity. Knowledge from the Banana Network will help farmers and producers to (1) plan investments more effectively, (2) receive a fair price for their crops, and (3) take early action in the event of a potential disaster.