The University of Colorado Boulder and Deloitte launched a new Climate Innovation Collaboratory in April 2022 in an effort to help translate cutting-edge climate research and data into meaningful climate solutions for federal, state, and local government agencies and communities. The Climate Innovation Collaboratory will start with two research and technology development projects addressing environmental challenges in the western United States.

With climate change and increased risk to communities from climate-driven hazards, like wildfires, there is a growing need for development of science-based market solutions. There is great potential to harness the tools and outputs of the data revolution, such as the explosion of Earth observing data from gene to satellite including social media and Internet of Things (IoT), to inform climate resilience. Focusing the deluge of available data and cutting-edge analytics to inform decision-making at the intersection of crisis informatics (live-event management of information) and geospatial analytics can provide valuable, contextual event insights. The integration of these two domains is necessary to improve the effectiveness of mitigation, response, and recovery efforts in response to climate change.  

Earth Lab, at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), is helping to shape the Climate Innovation Collaboratory with a wildfire pilot study on commercializing analytics of value to redefine the nation’s wildfire risk towards more sustainable solutions and climate resilience. This combines CU-Boulder’s research innovations and Deloitte’s experience in applied analytics to identify and develop novel technology that addresses market gaps and informs climate resilience solutions in real-world applications.

This wildfire pilot will focus on the tools and information needed for mitigation, response, and recovery efforts for wildfire events, with the intention of exploring extensibility to other climate crises as solutions develop. Overall, this effort will generate meaningful interactions between CU Boulder, Deloitte, and stakeholders such as public information officers as well as emergency planning, response, recovery and mitigation professionals.

In this wildfire pilot, we will:

1. demonstrate a translational research commercialization model, and
2. verify real-time fire analytics products and innovation process with industry

Translational research is aimed at converting basic research into results that directly benefit society. Earth Lab developed an innovation framework for translating research to applications that will be tested and adapted for commercial climate solutions to convert research into a market-ready product. This CU-Deloitte Alliance will yield market-driven solutions to help solve some of our most pressing environmental challenges.