Summary of Marina Rakhlin’s Presentation:
- Introduction:
- Marina Rakhlin from IBM has been with IBM Research for eight years, focusing on market opportunities for IBM’s software and solutions.
- Recently moved to IBM’s Corporate Social Responsibility Office, leading partnerships for climate and ESG reporting.
- Four years ago, she was part of a group at IBM Research that initiated a strategy on climate and sustainability across 10 global locations.
- New York Climate Exchange:
- Two years ago, Stony Brook University approached IBM about a proposal from the City of New York to create a climate action center on Governor’s Island.
- The proposal was to make Governor’s Island a hub for climate solutions and attract more tourism.
- In April, their team was announced as the winner to create the Center for Climate Solutions on Governor’s Island.
- The new organization is called the “The New York Climate Exchange.”
- The center will have both a physical and virtual presence, focusing on open source science and solutions.
- The goal is to have a global influence and fast-track research and ideas to solutions in the climate space.
- Physical Infrastructure:
- The campus on Governor’s Island will be a state-of-the-art facility, set to open in summer 2028.
- The center will be a “living building,” generating its own electricity and contributing positively in terms of resources.
- The construction will be the most ambitious mass timber construction in New York City, a sustainable alternative to concrete.
- Programming:
- The programming will focus on education, research, commercialization, and workforce development.
- Topics will include environmental justice, sustainable urban environments, and urban coastal resiliency.
- The center will collaborate with various partners, including academic institutions, corporate partners, advisory partners, community partners, and philanthropic partners.
- Upcoming Event:
- New York Climate Week will be a significant event where the New York Climate Exchange will introduce itself to the public.
- They will host three events: a panel on urban coastal resiliency, an innovation panel on DeepTech for Climate, and a Composting Liaisons New York City Community event.
- Closing Remarks:
- Marina emphasized the importance of open source software in the sustainability space and welcomed feedback and suggestions from the audience.
Questions:
- Tim Bonnemann
- Expressed interest in connecting with partners involved in research or education.
- Sees potential collaboration with open source in science teams for future programs.
- Highlighted opportunities for visitors and participants to engage.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Discussed educating partners on open source software.
- Mentioned a program to launch a hackathon on urban coastal resilience and water.
- Emphasized collaboration and potential solutions.
- Kai-Ti Wu
- Shared her experience with smart sustainable city projects in Berlin.
- Mentioned a project between Hamburg, Lexusia, and Munich focused on digital twins for sustainable cities.
- Offered to share more information on the digital twin project.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Discussed the potential of using digital twins for the island.
- Suggested exploring how the digital twin concept is applied in Hamburg and Berlin.
- Ian Buckley
- Introduced himself and his company, Agnostic.
- Mentioned an open source project called Covela for high-performance computing.
- Highlighted the potential of Covela for climate modeling and other research.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Expressed interest in exploring the potential of Covela.
- Discussed the challenges of integrating a data center into the living building challenge.
- Jonathan Starr
- Discussed the potential of using waste energy from computers for heating.
- Emphasized the importance of highlighting existing open source projects.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Discussed the New York Climate Exchange as a platform to highlight climate solutions.
- Emphasized the importance of supporting and promoting impactful technologies.
- Jonathan Starr
- Asked about the decision to build on the island versus letting nature reclaim it.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Explained the decision to build was based on New York City’s plan for a climate solutions center.
- Discussed plans to improve the green canopy and redesign the coastline of the island.
- Tim Bonnemann
- Inquired about examples of the initial programming for the project.
- Marina Rakhlin
- Shared an example of a hackathon focused on urban coastal resiliency.
- Jonathan Starr
- Encouraged participants to share open-source projects related to the Governor’s Island project.