Alternative data represents information captured from any part of an organization, outside of traditional reporting metrics, that has implications for stakeholder decision making. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data are some of the most frequently cited forms of alternative data. Prominent organizations and investors race to meet the demands of increasing global pressure to prove the sustainability of their operations. Yet, they all continue to struggle with ESG data standardization, asset sourcing, and a noisy marketplace. With hundreds of data insights highlighting any number of different metrics and frameworks, investors can be left guessing as to which ESG-related questions they need to answer, what data insights provide them with the best answers, and where to source all of this data.[1] With so much uncertainty in an already ill-defined space, investors must know they can trust data to support decision making.
Spherical | Analytics and the Environmental Defense Fund partner to launch Environmental Data Initiative 2.0 in New Mexico
Last year, we at Spherical | Analytics (S|A) announced our first public partnership and project. Collaborating with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), we launched the Environmental Data Initiative to monitor and report out on methane emissions from frack gas and shale oil operations occurring within the state of Pennsylvania.
Today, S|A and EDF are excited to announce the next phase of this project: the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) 2.0 for the state of New Mexico. The New Mexico expansion has many of the same features and functionality that the initial work in PA contained:
Spherical | Analytics Launches Marine Databank with Port of New Bedford
Spherical | Analytics (S|A) is pleased to announce that our partnership with the New Bedford Port Authority (NBPA) has been awarded the Seaport Economic Council (SEC) Grand Challenge Grant to seed the launch of the Marine Databank.
The Marine Databank (MBD) will act as a data coop, or on a mutual company model. Those sharing data, analytics and other digital tools to contribute to science, sustainable fisheries, oceans health, costal community resilience and other pressing challenges include fishing boat/ fleet owners, shellfish harvesters, researchers, conversation groups and other public and private enterprises. Privacy and data ownership rights will be protected as they explore sharing, trading or licensing of their data, analytics and models.
Talking about Resilience at OSHEANCon18
Chris Rezendes, Chief Business Officer for Spherical | Analytics, recently delivered one of the keynote addresses at OSHEANCon18 – OSHEAN’s annual convention bringing together the top public and private sector innovators from across Rhode Island, held at Providence College in the Ryan Center for Business Studies. (Click here for the video)
OSHEAN stands for “Ocean State Higher Education Economic Development and Administrative Network”. The network delivers broadband telecommunications and innovative technology solutions while driving economic advantage and operation efficiency for hundreds of organizations (academic, government, healthcare, etc.) in the state of Rhode Island and elsewhere.
In his address, Chris focused on three key imperatives for public-private partnership success in municipal and regional infrastructure development/ redevelopment:
(1) The meaning of resilience in infrastructure markets, including the rise of climate and cyber risk dimensions in overall project/ finance risk modeling.
(2) The depth and granularity of the data required to monitor, manage and report out on cyberphysical infrastructure resilience to achieve material operational and financial impacts
(3) The need for next generation public and private partnerships to collaborate and coordinate on their investments in trusted digital systems and multi-functional teams of SMEs
“Convenience is a feature, profit is a tool, but resilience is the killer app,” Chris stated to the crowd of several hundred attendees gathered from across the region. We at S|A believe that our platform – from allsource ingestion to cryptographic multipoint proofing and blockchain ledgering to network graph analytics and machine learning -- offers a comprehensive solution that allows companies to: gather disparate information about emerging risks, increase their situational awareness of these risks and make informed decisions that increase both revenue and resilience.
Chris was joined by Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee of Rhode Island and Chet Kanojia, CEO of Starry, as keynote speakers for the conference.
For more information about how Spherical | Analytics can help you solve some of your most important environmental data, climate risk modeling and infrastructure development/ redevelopment challenges, visit us at sphericalanalytics.io and contextlabs.com or follow us on Twitter (@SphereAnalytics and @contextlabsbv).
Smart Infrastructure and IoT at the IoT6 Exchange
Nearly 100 senior executives who develop and invest in public and private infrastructure gathered at the Ponte Vedra Club in Jacksonville for the recently held IoT6 Exchange conference on smart infrastructure and IoT. The event enabled them to share recent experiences in designing, developing and deploying the next generation of smart infrastructure systems.
Funding Public Infrastructure Upgrades: Why Cyberphysical Security Matters
At the Smart Regions Congress at the National Press Club in Washington DC, Spherical|Analytics’ CBO Chris Rezendes spoke to the importance of cyberphysical resilience in in smart city projects.The Congress took place in February and was presented by Venture Smarter as part of the Regional Smart Cities Initiative.
Supporting Farmers, Driving Food Security with IoT and Blockchain
The Atlantic Monthly explores people, companies and communities that are innovating in their monthly Possibilities Report. The March edition featured the work of Context Labs' business units Spherical|Analytics and IoT ImpactLABS in small and middle market agriculture operators and food security networks. A number of ImpactLABS partners were highlighted.
Understanding the Internet of Everything: Panel on Connectivity with Smart Regions Congress
The Launch of Spherical Analytics (S|A)
Spherical Analytics (S|A) is building the world’s trusted platform for environmental data
We’re excited to announce that Context Labs and The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust (“Grantham Environmental Trust”) are launching Spherical Analytics (S|A).
S|A is a new company whose purpose is to build the world’s trusted platform for global environmental data, analytics and modeling tools.
Our mission at S|A is to source and organize the world’s environmental information, with embedded blockchain-enabled provenance and veracity, to radically accelerate positive impacts and outcomes to Planet Earth. We do this by integrating blockchain technology with big data ingestion, machine learning and advanced analytics, providing a strategic tool for environmental impact, risk assessment and systemic change.
Blockchain for Climate is the Next Big Thing
The Context Labs mantra of The Supply Chain of Everything (SCE), applies our blockchain-enabled Immutably™ for Climate platform to environmental and climate data. The applications range from the tracking of ideas and models in their digital forms, to their physical measurements in IoT, to data acquisition and remote sensing, satellite data acquisition, chain of custody, chain of identity, and in-depth analytics to help make sense of the data and share it efficiently and seamlessly.
Our view is that all things we utilize, both physical and digital, have a provenance at the point of “A-ha!” inception, all the way until a product or service ends up in a consumer’s hands. It is the same for environmental and climate data. It has a provenance and a need for data veracity throughout the life cycle of its use. In today's world of "alternate facts" and "fake news," our aim is to insure that the data that matters most to our survival on Earth is trusted, and accessible by all.
How We Do It
Capturing this provenance and veracity is done by our Proofworks™ platform. Our intersection of understanding for this is with Environmental Impact Analytics™, combining the “interconnectedness of everything” with blockchain, to more fully describe, understand, and predict the SCE. Technologically, it is a “blockchain meets network graph analytics, meets machine learning” marriage. It is a powerful combination, particularly when integrated with machine learning and big data ingestion at-scale. S|A further enables adoption and support for these technologies with its Environmental ImpactLabs team and their thought leadership in IoT, climate, and multi-stakeholder sustainability.
Who We Are
Our team's collective history has deeply focused on collaboration, sharing, and connecting people and ideas. Our prior work has produced platforms and apps that have been used by billions of Internet users. We have introduced technologies and companies that pioneered Voice-over-IP (VoIP), shared whiteboards and screens, media streaming, big data interoperability, and social/local/mobile, blockchain at-scale innovation, and IoT thought leadership.
We are born from a collaboration between Context Labs and The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust (“Grantham Environmental Trust”). Having built a platform solution for deploying blockchain technology to ingest, verify, and track IP along the supply chain, Context Labs sought to apply this technology to address climate change. Influenced by both the Grantham Foundation and a collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org), we see that "Blockchain for Climate is its most important use."
A Trust Platform
Most importantly, these applications of Immutably™ all have a common denominator, the ability to build a Trust Platform, one that certifies to the provenance and veracity of data, throughout its myriad uses.
We are looking forward to extending our work and investment in blockchain research and development to address climate change. We invite you to regularly visit the Spherical Analytics website, or read the full press release announcing the launch of Spherical Analytics.