Geoff Riggs, IBM, introduces his talk about big data and sharing data for better water management by discussing the changes challenging water management, the Calgary flood being the most current. IBM 's vision of a data soaked future first came out of data analytics on their water and heating/cooling systems in one of their chip manufacturing plants.
Optimizing water and energy use led to a new business unit for IBM (Business Analytics). He describes two examples, Digital Delta (a cooperative approach in the Netherlands for sharing data and improving water management) and the Southern Ontario Water Consortium. Governance and collaboration are the challenges when 30-40% of a water project involves data management.
Geoff Riggs is a Water Consultant, Smarter Cities, at IBM Global Business Services. His presentation was part of the panel discussion on Innovation and/or Collaboration: Finding Canada's Balance at the Canadian Water Summit, Calgary, June 27, 2013.