2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DIGITALISATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Sharely team is working on a big mission: a world where you don't have to own things to use them. To achieve this goal, they developed the online platform sharely.ch to make items accessible within a few clicks. Sharely is active throughout Switzerland and has over 60,000 lenders and borrowers sharing objects ranging from high-pressure cleaners to cars. With every rental, items are brought into a cycle and 88kg of CO2 is saved per transaction. Thanks to this concept, we are heading toward a more sustainable society that nevertheless should not compromise on anything.

In 1968, the Club of Rome publishes the highly regarded report "The Limits to Growth". One year later, the US Department of Defence creates ARPANET, the first precursor of the internet. Long independent processes, they are now being thought of together. Sustainable digitalisation requires that digital technologies and applications are used in harmony with the ecological, social and economic needs of our society and our planet. What role does the 2030 Agenda play in this? What role for the federal government?

To combat diseases caused by airborne spores, more than 400,000 tonnes of fungicides are used globally each year. Much of this is unnecessary because the arrival of the spores is not known. Fungicides are thus often applied on a fixed schedule or as a prophylactic measure. This is a problem; it pollutes the environment. The solution is spore monitoring so that the time of infestation can be measured. A fungicide will then only be used when necessary. Learn more about spore monitoring in the talk.

The metaverse and the early stages of Augmented Reality (AR) are creating new categories of experiences and services that will impact many, if not all, industries.

After all, if the entire world can be digitally augmented and/or overlaid, then:

- There will be even less need for business travels, as meetings can be held in virtual spaces

- Exotic locations will be visited virtually and thus saved

- Cities will need fewer physical screens and vending machines

The biggest hurdle to sustainability is that people are reluctant to give up anything. If we get it right, the metaverse can help us live more sustainably without having to give up familiar services and experiences.

Daniel Kränz, User Experience Director at MUTABOR in Hamburg, Germany, will present first examples and forecast where the journey can go.

The development of artificial intelligence methods has seen huge momentum in the last few years and seems to imply disruptive changes in society, industry, and science. Specifically, huge models such as GPT, CLIP, DINO or SAM, referred to as foundation models, show great potential as general-purpose vehicles. In environmental science, we observe their footprint in form of applications for global tree canopy height mapping to monitor deforestation or for designing more energy-efficient buildings.

One key ingredient for making such models "general purpose" is that they are trained on huge amounts of data that may be similar to the data encountered in targeted application areas. Can the knowledge captured by these models be transferred to other shifted domains or even other modalities as typically observed in environmental use cases?

In this presentation, we outline the recent developments in AI research and discuss possible benefits and difficulties in adopting them in environmental science applications.

Digital solutions have become an integral part of our daily lives. However, the sustainability of these solutions in terms of their environmental, economic, and social impact is a critical issue that must be addressed. To ensure sustainability, it is essential to incorporate it into the design process. Unfortunately, we still lack awareness, time, and skills to anticipate the impact of our design decisions on sustainability. Therefore, Bitkom and IREB propose a holistic approach called Digital Design that focuses on people, business, and technology. This talk will explain what Digital Design means, and why Digital Design is sustainable and creates sustainability.

Ecorobotix develops and markets highly accurate and selective single crop spraying equipment in crop production. 6 high-resolution cameras capture images under controlled light conditions, measure speed and distances. Artificial intelligence processes and recognises weeds as well as crops in real time. The spraying system with 154 individually controlled nozzles via solenoid valves allows a precise application on a spot of 6x6cm. The working width of 6m together with the working speed of 7.5km/h allow to treat 2-3 ha per hour. With this new technology, savings of up to 95% of pesticides can be achieved.

In the upcoming transformation towards regenerative measures and models, universities see themselves challenged to educate students for the future. Design is seen as a key factor in the transformation of society towards circular consumption and production systems. Even if we first think of "beautiful things" when we think of design, all design disciplines (also) design with digital tools and, above all, they design digital products. Our practice-based research project is located at the interface between higher education institutions, practice partners and external experts and investigates circular learning and teaching in higher education didactics using the example of art and design education. Positioned in the research field of the HESD, the research question guiding the investigation is: Under what conditions and in what forms does circular teaching, training and further education succeed with regard to circular professional competence? The aim of our work is also to present colleagues in other disciplines with reflections on how they can teach circularly and equip their students for circular professional empowerment.

The "Circular Argovia" programme of measures of the Hightech Zentrum Aargau supports companies in implementing the transformation to a circular economy. It aims to raise awareness among companies and help them with implementation through knowledge transfer and start-up financing. At the same time, the agricultural and food industries also face challenges that can be overcome through digitalisation and innovation. The "Open Farming Hackdays" initiative promotes exchange and the development of new approaches to solutions. As part of SustainabilITy 2030, a workshop will be offered for the upcoming edition of the "Open Farming Hackdays".

KOCO Solutions AG optimised the waste management of the city of Basel by using algorithm-based fill level forecasting. Instead of using expensive sensors, the weighing data of the waste collection vehicles was used to make accurate predictions about the fill levels of the glass containers. This led to a reduction in the number of waste collection vehicles needed from four to three, saving empty runs and costs. The successful optimisation also made it possible to increase the efficiency of other waste collection processes. The KOCOforecast software solution offers comprehensive planning aids and continuously improves the algorithm. This example shows how process optimisation through algorithmic fill level prediction creates sustainable benefits for the city of Basel by reducing CO2 emissions, energy demand and traffic volume.

Farmers are more and more driven by third parties and rules. Nevertheless, the major challenges such as species extinction and climate emissions continue to increase. Regenerative agriculture in combination with the latest digital technologies can bring a change here. AgriCircle, an innovative Swiss company, offers solutions for a new approach and more freedom for those who can best rethink and approach these major challenges driving change and impact - the farmers.

"Esg2go" (www.esg2go.org) offers a practicable, affordable and at the same time credible sustainability rating and reporting system for SME. It is based on a calibrated benchmarking system that enables measurability and comparability of a firm’s sustainability performance within the context, in which they operate. Benchmark estimates improve over time as company data becomes more available. In addition to capturing their footprint, SMEs also have the opportunity to document their potential handprint (positive external effects generated by their core business for society and the environment) as an optional input.

Closing the circle of biowaste enables the production of biogas and compost. Besides the economic interest, this represents an important ecological advantage. However, this recycling is threatened by the large amount of foreign bodies in biowaste, some of which will end up as microplastics in the compost and thus accumulate in agricultural fields. Monitoring the quality of biowaste through AI and data-based decision support tools improves the quality before treatment and thus increases the recycled quantities of this resource.    

More and more data, new technologies and changing business models: Our world is transforming rapidly and becoming increasingly digital. This requires resources and energy which must be used thoughtfully. To ensure that digitalization succeeds sustainably, we need to set the course now. Roger Süess explains where the industry stands today, what approaches Green is taking in its sustainable data centers, and explains future scenarios we can look forward to.

We will show the usage of AI in a new innovative business model to combine local renewable energy exchange with grid stability on the lower grid voltage levels. The combination of a graph-based "digital twin" which includes merit order principle as well as realtime transport prices enables new possibilities. In order to forecast grid congestions and reactions to it, a lot of AI is used and developed by CEEX actually. We will give an overview of the solution and the used techniques.

Vertical farming is a promising new technology with a large potential to contribute to a more sustainable and resilient food system. However, the industry is still young and there are many challenges to be solved yet. A lot of vertical farming companies struggle to become profitable, often due to high labor and energy costs as well as big upfront investments for infrastructure. Yasai tries to mitigate these challenges with a concept, which we call “integrated vertical farming”. We look at vertical farms in a broader sense and do not just see them as independent plant factories and businesses but as an integral infrastructure of the city of tomorrow. Our concept relies on circular economy and the usage of as many synergies between city and farm as possible, for example the delivery of waste heat to district heating, direct CO2 capturing from air and nutrient recycling. This presentation gives an insight into the thinking and design process behind the concept and an outlook on the first integrated Yasai farm, which will be built in Schlieren by 2026.

The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a global agreement on 'the world we want' by 2030. Many businesses have identified SDGs that they contribute towards. Can we also use them as requirements in Systems Engineering? This talk will look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of using the SDGs in an IT context considering impacts, contributions and education. How can we meaningfully improve the sustainability of the IT we implement and avoid the risks of greenwashing.

As big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence continue to gain prominence in information technology, experts are raising concerns about the environmental costs of computation, primarily data and AI’s carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. In this talk, I will discuss the threads generated by the exponential development of AI on the environment, but also how it can be used as a potential tool for combatting climate change and having a positive impact on our environment.