Climate Change: KAD ICT Hub and Copernic Space to enable weather data access with blockchain
Kaduna is working with the space asset platform Copernic Space to provide better access to weather and satellite data through digital applications. The KAD ICT Hub, established to bridge the digital gap and institute a culture of innovation in Kaduna State, is collaborating with innovative companies to address climate change and provide solutions to public and private enterprises in Nigeria and West Africa.
KAD ICT Hub Partnership
The KAD ICT Hub's Chief Executive Officer, Engr Yusuf Bashir, stated that efforts are underway to address climate change through weather and satellite data partnerships. The weather data would be provided in partnership with two innovative companies, Copernic Space and Kanda Weather from the United States and Canada, using blockchain technology. The companies have inaugurated a platform that would enable access to live weather for West Africa.
The KAD ICT Hub has partnered with the Kaduna State University, Airforce Institute of Technology, and other universities in the country that will utilize the platform as a research environment for the institutions and students. This collaborative approach ensures that the latest technology reaches academic institutions and benefits the next generation of innovators.
Weather Data Access Through Blockchain
The blockchain-based solution will democratize access and increase the efficiency of African farmers and may become a groundbreaking tool to fight climate change. The platform would serve not only the agricultural sector but also insurance, governments, research institutions, and more. Access to weather data and forecasting models through convenient digital applications will facilitate decision-making in agriculture and provide direct and democratized access to critical data.
Fighting Climate Change with Data
Widespread access to real-time satellite data could become one of the most groundbreaking methods of fighting droughts, fires, and other climate change in Africa and across the world. By applying new models and technologies such as blockchain behind a user-friendly e-commerce-like experience, stakeholders can unlock benefits for users around the world. The partnership aims to show how truly wide the applications and benefits are of such data when provided in an easily accessible manner.
Copernic Space Solution
Copernic Space allows players of all kinds to access and manage space assets such as satellite data and software under one roof while opening the market to millions globally. Powered by smart contracts and token models including non-fungible tokens, Copernic Space facilitates transactions along with space asset transfers such as data licenses between users. The company provides a decentralized system that removes them from being a custodian or intermediary when it comes to data or value.
Copernic Space would be providing the raw data sets in easy-to-access ways for free on its marketplace as Kanda Weather already does on the Telos blockchain. But we are also working with Kanda to structure data into commercial sets that can be acquired or requested on-demand on the Copernic Space marketplace by users around the world.
All the raw weather data is made available in real-time and stored inexpensively in random access memory on the Telos public blockchain. Currently, Copernic Space is working with various space companies on bringing to the market new commercial models for the space economy such as satellite ride-sharing and geospatial data on demand. This partnership with KAD ICT Hub represents a significant step towards democratizing access to critical space and weather data across Africa and the world.