The fundamental purpose of the water service has not changed. What is changing is our ability to make informed decisions.
Aisha has been actively working with water utilities for the past 10 years in the implementation of asset management plans and water losses reduction and energy efficiency improvement initiatives in Portugal, Brazil and the US. She holds a PhD in civil engineering and has been working with the International Water Association since 2013, as a member of IWA Strategic asset management Specialist Group.
I am very excited to give an outlook on the future of AI in the Water industry and a vision for future cities.
Newsha K. Ajami is the Chief Development Officer for Research in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. She is a leading expert in sustainable water resource management, smart cities, and water policy.
Dr. Ajami is a mayoral appointee to the San Francisco PUC, serves on the National Academies Water Science and Technology Board, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, and sits on several advisory boards. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC, Irvine.
Ina Vertommen is the team leader of Hydroinformatics at KWR. In this role, she is responsible for the content and profile of the team. The team’s goal is to strengthen KWR’s position in the field of hydroinformatics. Ina also works as a scientific researcher in the field of water demand modelling, robust design of water distribution networks and optimisation problems. She likes to explore the added value and application possibilities of different new techniques and methods for the water sector. She works with her colleagues on the development of tools, such as the optimisation platform Gondwana.
Ina gets energy from collaborating with researchers and water management professionals and strives to achieve innovative and valuable research results and solutions together.
This year’s event on Artificial Intelligence: Reshaping the Water Industry will address the potential and challenge of applying artificial intelligence (AI) in the water sector. Possible AI applications will be explored from the perspective of research, industrial innovations, water operator needs, and political and legal challenges.
Discover innovative ideas presented in live keynote speeches, panel discussions and project pitches. You’ll have abundant opportunities to participate in discussions, share your knowledge, and network with entrepreneurs and scientists in breakout sessions and one-on-one meetings. As of now the digital event platform can already be used for networking!
Participation is free of charge. The event will be held in English.
Dr. Nicolas Caradot is working since 2010 at Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB), a leading R&D institute on urban water management. He is currently the head of a research group on smart city and infrastructure. He has contributed over the past years on numerous R&D projects on urban drainage monitoring, modelling and decision making. His main research area is the use of data, statistics and machine learning to better understand the behavior of urban networks and increase the rationality of decision making processes. He holds a PhD thesis on the topic of the simulation of sewer asset management strategies. He is now coordinating a European H2020 innovation project on digital water management called digital-water.city. Caradot chairs the UDAM working group on Urban Drainage Asset Management from the Joint Committee on Urban Drainage and he is a member of the Management Committee of the Specialist Group on Strategic Asset Management (SAM) from the International Water Association.
Alexandre is recognized as vision-driven, a strategic thinker, and a creative entrepreneur. His broad experience in technology development in many activity sectors gives him a systemic perspective on challenges and opportunities. Today, as senior direction of AI strategy and research at Bentley Systems, he’s collaborating on materializing the promises of AI-powered infrastructure digital twins for the engineering, construction, and asset operations industries.
Water is part of a system of systems. Management of such complexity requires new tools and processes. Digital twins and machine learning are two such technologies that promise to revolutionize the way we understand such complex systems and interact with them in a more efficient and sustainable way.
The goal might seem far in the future. However, we’re already seeing that machine learning is simplifying the work of designing, constructing, and operating water infrastructure. Examples include:
More efficient information extraction and discovery
ML-assisted infrastructure inspection
Real-time waste water system monitoring and overflow prediction
In-line water quality measurement for optimization of the water treatment process
Flood prediction and impact assessment
And a lot more!
According to me, the main question is not, »How will ML change the water industry?« it’s, »Where do we want it to create an impact first?«
With aging infrastructure, growing urbanization, and rising costs, it is becoming increasingly important in the water industry to prevent the loss of water. A smart way to reduce leaks is for sure through artificial intelligence. I’m convinced that the right solutions and innovations will help us in the future to master all these challenges. Together. #ForWater
Anja Eimer has been heading the global water business of Siemens AG since March 2022. Before taking on her new role, she worked for Siemens Advanta Consulting, where she consulted customers on their digital transformation and business model innovations. The comprehensive experience she gained while working in various industries, such as Automotive, Infrastructure, Banks & Insurances, will help her further strengthen the business potential of Siemens AG in the global water industry, with a special focus on supporting customers from the water industry on their digital journey. Anja Eimer has a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Business Management. She is convinced that technology and continuous innovation are key to making the world more sustainable and preparing for the challenges ahead.
Smart water management is an essential pillar for Berlin as a digitally sovereign city. Resilient infrastructures based on open source technology are not only crucial to face environmental challenges, but also in order to live up to the political promises of transparency and democratic participation. The BLUE PLANET Water Dialogues are a fantastic opportunity to foster innovation and exchange in this field.
Nicolas Zimmer is the CEO of the Technology Foundation Berlin. Before joining the foundation in 2013, he worked as a lawyer and subsequently founded several startups. He has been a member of the Berlin House of Representatives from 1998 until 2011, where he was speaker of the committee for science and research before being appointed as state secretary at the Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research in 2011. Nicolas was born in 1970 in Berlin, where he also studied law at the Free University of Berlin. He is member of numerous committees as well as advisory boards and an active supporter of the open source community. He is married and has one daughter.
Technology is exciting and enables change. It disrupts. Turning that disruption and excitement in to better in daily operations is my goal. That’s when the value becomes real.
Dr. Adam Cartwright is Head of IoT Applications at Siemens UK. Leading a cross-functional team Adam is responsible for co-creating new IoT solutions with Siemens customers and partners. Starting his career in the steel industry he moved on to receive his doctorate before working for the UK Government. In government Dr. Cartwright specialised in how climate change policies impacted business and led development of the UK Government’s strategic relationship management programme. Immediately prior to his current role he was Head of Open Innovation for Siemens UK where he supported Siemens AG‘s nearly 200 collaborations with UK universities and supported creation of new projects of >€30m.
I believe artificial intelligence can and is already revolutionizing hydrology and flood forecasting specifically, and hope we can utilize these powerful tools to reduce fatalities and harms globally.
