WHY WE DO IT
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemics, we shut down the entire world economy and as a result, GHG emission fell by 8%. This is shockingly little and it makes one thing clear: to survive, the human race needs to reinvent the entire economy. How will we feed 10 Bi people with Net zero emissions?
This is a problem which concerns mainly the global South, which sees mass population growth. Tropical countries need to find ways to increase their food production by a factor of 3-5, without compromising their nature. We believe that Brazil and Latin America is in the best position to lead this race, but they need certainly technology and scientific collaboration with European and US companies. This collaborative Innovation Eco-System is our Mission.
SCIENCE GIVES US A MASTER PLAN - WE MAKE IT HAPPEN!
PROJECT DRAWDOWN - The World's Leading Resource for Climate Solutions applied
Climate drawdown is the point at which greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere level off and begin to decline. This milestone is the most important task of humanity in the next 50 years. Project Drawdown is a scientific climate change mitigation project initiated by Scientists around the globe, whose central contribution is the compilation of a list of the “100 most substantive technology solutions to global warming”. Likewise, many research institutions, such as the MIT, generate a big amount of science and technologies, which can help solving the climate challenge.
However, science alone cannot yet solve the problem and the gap between cutting edge research and our farmers is large. Here DRAWDOWN LABS comes into play. Our mission is to bring this Scientific Master Plan to the local communities and farmers. We do this by pursuing both Non-Profit initiatives and business ventures. Such initiatives and ventures always involve different players, typically technology manufacturers, local R&D, government agencies, cooperatives and local small businesses. Our strength is to bring people and ideas together, from the MIT campus through to a small farmer in remote Brazil.
OUR VISION - DRAWDOWN ECONOMY
Mission Leads Business - We help Venture whose Mission we share
BRAZIL & TROPICAL AGRICULTURE
Brazil is where the Game against Climate Change is being played
By 1970, Brazil was a net importer of Food. Today, the country is among the top 4 food producers. This success is based on innovation. The technologies of Embrapa (the national Agricultural R&D agency) made agriculture in tropical regions possible and efficient. Now, we stand before the next challenge: How will we produce even more food by protecting our nature?
It is clear that the challenge of Food production vs climate change must be resolved by the global South. Only tropical countries have the potential to increase their yields and they are the regions, which face the increasing demand for food. The country of Brazil long declared itself as the leader of modern tropical agriculture and digitization in agriculture. The country has a modern, and vibrant Agritech sector and ideal climatic, agronomic, social and economic conditions for leading this journey. Indeed, Brazil has some of the leading agronomic research and education institutions and the year-round growth climate allows much faster development than in the north. On the other hand, European and US industry is still ahead in technologies, electronics and ICT technologies. These are perfect conditions for collaborative actions towards solving climate change.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN AGRICULTURE & CLIMATE
Artificial Intelligence needs to be combined with Domain Expertise!
Imagine you are a plant manager. Your connected heating system has 10 pumps, each of which has 10 different levels to adjust. There are 10 Billion possible configurations, of which only one grants the most efficient operation. Each business faces such situations where the complexity is far beyond what humans can manage. The lack of full information leads to an enormous resource inefficiency. In Agriculture we don't deal only with 10 pumps and 10 levels, but with some 50 different crops, 20 different climates, 10 different soil types, and countless different pests, diseases, agronomic practices, market demands etc. Many of these variables are highly uncertain.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are tools which are made for dealing exactly with this kind of complexity and uncertainty. They are very efficient in optimising problems, working with a large complexity and find the best decision in an uncertain environment. In Agriculture, we know that we can operate with at least 50% less input resources. Further, many regenerative practices, such as Agroforestry are only feasible in combination with new AI solutions. The challenge point is that we are nowhere near a Artificial General Intelligence. This means that we need to deploy AI/ML algorithms specific to a certain task, which mean that we need a lot of local agronomic knowledge to flow into these models. This can only be achieved in a collaborative manner between different agents and specialists.
OUR VENTURES
#drawdownbusiness
THE PARTNER TEAM
THE FUTURE IS COLLABORATIVE - JOIN US!
We believe that Covid-19 marks a big turning point in the way we do business. People have realized that business cannot be seen isolated from nature and society. We see this in South America since a long time. Only companies, whose focus is on solving true problems, integrating and cooperating with governments and acting in sustainable manners thrive in the long-term. This is especially true for Agriculture, a sector which involves literally all sensitive areas like nature, food production, inequality and regulations.
DRAWDOWN LABS is set-up to foster exactly these positive businesses ventures. If you are a...
Foreign technology manufacturer (IoT, Software), we help you to develop your business in a way, this fully integrates with the above Eco-System. This includes government and cooperative project, 'local finishing' and distribution channels.
Investor/Producer of Agriculture or Bioenergy Ventures, we can help you to implement cutting-edge technology and applied science, as well as bringing you in to contact with community experts. If you are interested, we can also work to place your project into a 'technology and sustainability showcase' with the support of Academia and public agents.
Research Institution, we give your work a platform to achieve real impact. This includes low-cost Software development, business development and connecting with the local community.
Local Start-up or entrepreneur, we can help you to get access to cutting edge science and technology. This involves the development of AI/Data Science models and the connection with key technology.
No matter what your background and objectives are, the most important thing is to find and set-up a compelling business model for the local community. Once this is done, your success is a logical consequence. This is where we help you.
Contact us:
SCIENCE
Influential Publications & Studies
Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown is a world-class research organization that reviews, analyses, and identifies the most viable global climate solutions, and shares these findings with the world. It proposes scientifically viable solutions and shifts the global conversation about climate change from “doom and gloom” defeatism to one of possibility, opportunity, action, and empowerment.
Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning
Is a Paper by leading Machine Learning experts from top institutions describing how machine learning can be a powerful tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping society adapt to a changing climate. From smart grids to disaster management, the scholars identify high impact problems where existing gaps can be filled by machine learning. The paper proposes promising business opportunities.
Brazilian Farming, the Amazon and European Politics
Why French Roosters could be Dangerous for our Climate. A fact-revealing article about the role of Brazilian Farming, the Amazon protection contextualize to European politics, climate justice and Free trading.
Data Science in Agritech: Being approximately right or exactly wrong
Michael becomes official EMBRAPA Expert for Artificial Intelligence in Agriuclture
Michael C. Rubin, Co-Founder of Drawdown Labs becomes an official Expect for Artificial Intelligence for EMBRAPA (Brazilian Argiculture Research and Development Institute). Watch Michael's presentation about the status quo, limitations and the roadmap of Artificial Intelligence in Brazilian Agriculture on the official EMBRAPA Youtube channel:
DRAWDOWN LABS becomes Expert Partner and Lead Author for SWISS GOVERNMENT
DRAWDOWN LABS is lead Author in a comprehensive Report about Digital Agriculture in Brazil, done my the SWISS GOVERNMENT. The report lays out the current technical, ecological and market situation and identifies opportunities for Swiss Technology companies. We were also appointed as Domain Experts in Digital Agriculture Brazil for the Swiss Government.
