In this issue of the Global Weather Enterprise Forum Newsletter we review several activities which have taken place since Issue 1 ...

AMS Boston

The Forum held a face-to-face session of participants from across the public, private and academic sectors of the global weather enterprise during January 2020 in Boston.

Held in conjunction with the American Meterorological Society’s 100th Annual Meeting, this was the latest in a series of international discussions hosted by the Forum on issues of common interest and importance across the enterprise. Below we summarise the main discussion points and the ways forward identified during what was a very successful session. Scroll down for more information ...

Education & training

Two specific activities of the Forum that are being launched now are presented in this Newsletter. The first relates to the issue of education and training of meteorologists via the academic sector in Africa and the intention to hold a workshop to initiate work in this area. Scroll down for more information ...

A concept note has been created entitled: “Exploring Opportunities for Enhancing Academic-Private-Public Sector Partnerships in Education and Training to benefit the African Hydro-Meteorological Enterprise”. This can be downloaded from the link provided below and we welcome Forum members’ views on the goals of the project and also invite interested members to enrol as 'Expert Team' participants. Scroll down for more information ...

Services in Sri Lanka

The second activity highlighted relates to the improvement of weather and climate services in Sri Lanka. This article encourages prospective companies and consortia to share their ideas to gauge the strength of the market with a view to allowing procurement of a complete end-to-end system which includes all aspects of the meteorological value chain from observations to services, including the integration of other development partner supported activities. Scroll down for more information ...

Other issues - WMO Open Consultative Platform; New report on data policy

We have provided a link to the newly created 'Open Consultative Platform' of the WMO which the Forum aims to work closely with on issues of engagement between the public, private and academic sectors in the global weather enterprise.

There is also a link to a new report from the Open Data Institute (ODI) and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. This report explores ideas around how to effectively and ethically utilise the potentially huge – but hard to quantify – value of data.

We hope Forum members will find this Newsletter informative and helpful to their activities. We encourage anyone who is interested in the activities covered to contact the GWE Forum so that they can get actively involved and we also encourage individuals and organisations to join the Forum as Members.

AMS BOSTON

Global Weather Enterprise Forum session at AMS 100, 15 January 2020, Boston

A new phase of the Global Weather Enterprise Forum (GWEF) was launched during the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Boston on January 15, 2020.

Participants at the session included those from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry (HMEI), NOAA/National Weather Service, several other national meteorological services and many private companies. The session was focused on cooperation and coordination across the global weather enterprise.

It was noted that as well as the Forum, the  Open Consultative Platform (OCP) recently created by the WMO provides new opportunities for engagement between the public, private and academic sectors. The discussion topics at the session included: challenges the world is facing due to the paucity of data coming from many developing countries, weather data which are currently not able to be shared internationally, the need to reach sustainability of NMHSs operations, etc. The WMO briefed the audience about its new development – the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), which is intended to create a sustainable flow of funds for the production of observations with significant global public good value.  

GFDRR presented the new vision of the GWEF, which aims to provide a practical tool for collaboration fostering engagement by the public, private and academic sectors in specific projects, countries, and challenges. The activities of the Forum will include creating expert groups which will pilot new approaches to address some of the challenges discussed in this session and at other recent international discussion meetings. A major focus of the Forum will be to assist in putting into practice the recommendations of the recent GFDRR publication Power of Partnership: Public and Private Engagement in Hydromet Services that was also presented to the audience. Some summary remarks are attached (click to link to the slides).

The next meeting of the GWEF is tentatively scheduled for mid-2020 – either face to face or virtual – subject to the global health situation.

Download the report on the GWE Forum Meeting at AMS on 15 January, 2020 - Follow up and next steps

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Public-Private-Academic Sector Partnerships in Education & Training to benefit African Hydromet

The recent publication by the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery entitled “The Power of Partnership: Public and Private Engagement in Hydromet Services” outlines the importance of establishing and sustaining cooperation between the academic, private, and public sectors.

The conclusions of this report also stress that the academic sector is an important vehicle for growing public-private engagement in the hydromet domain.

The Concept Note - Exploring Opportunities for Enhancing Academic-Private-Public Sector Partnerships in Education and Training to benefit the African Hydro-Meteorological Enterprise - describes an upcoming effort to develop a vision for cooperation on education and training between the academic, public and private sectors to enhance and sustain vibrant hydro-meteorological enterprises across Africa. You can download the Concept Note here

While we do not have a clarity on the timing of the workshop due to the global health concerns, we encouraged those interested in working on this topic to email the GWE Forum in order to form a task group. We look forward to hearing your views on the goals of this effort (e.g., what skill sets are most desired by the private and public sector and what are the barriers to success) and the best way of delivery.

HYDROMET SERVICES

Building climate resilience in Sri Lanka

There has been a lot of discussion within the Global Weather Enterprise on approaches to the improvement of weather and hydrological services. The World Bank is supporting the Climate Resilience Multiphase Program (Cres MPA), which aims to help the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) enhance its capacity to deliver improved weather and climate forecasting and early warning.  
 
A major planned intervention is the modernization of the Department of Meteorology (DoM) operations and services. This intervention aims to improve the quality of the DoM information products and services.  The DoM is likely to begin the procurement process soon, for a complete end-to-end system, which includes all aspects of the meteorological value chain from observations to services, including the integration of other development partner supported activities.

The DoM is primarily interested in a “turn-key” solution with a single supplier (or consortium of suppliers) who would take responsibility for designing, building and transferring an operational system, which is capable of incorporating existing systems as appropriate, integrating other development partner planned activities, and can be linked seamlessly to, and provide functional compatibility with, the systems and services of other government agencies.

At this stage, the World Bank and GFDRR are keen to encourage the GoSL to seek input from companies and consortia with experience in Design-Build-Operate-Transfer projects on technical feasibility of this approach.

It is anticipated that if the GoSL moves ahead with this approach a Request for Information (RFI) will be published and a workshop convened in Sri Lanka. Given the current health crisis, however, we have no indication when this may take place. In the meantime, in order to encourage further discussion on the merits of DBOT projects, GFDRR encourages prospective companies and consortia to share their ideas to gauge the strengthen of the market for this approach. Please email suggestions by 15 June and indicate if the information can be shared publicly.

WMO

Open Consultative Platform

To find out more about the WMO's Open Consultative Platform, visit here

In addition, an interview about the Open Consultative Platform with Dimitar Ivanov, the WMO's Director, Public-Private Engagement, has just been published as a Podcast by Business of Weather. To stream or download the Podcast, visit here

DATA

Policy advice on data

A new report by the Open Data Institute (ODI) and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, explores ideas around how to effectively and ethically utilise the potentially huge – but hard to quantify – value of data.

The report, 'New Policy Advice On The Value of Data'  is led by Professor Diane Coyle. It explores in general terms the value of data, and recommends avoiding complex and restrictive regulation around the use of data whilst balancing risks to privacy - so ensuring the public get the best value from this emerging commodity.

The report urges the government, the wider public sector and the research community to avoid creating conditions that might limit or prevent the use of data not only now, but in future. For example, they should avoid creating complex and restrictive regulation around data, or granting exclusive 'data access deals' to data sets that have especially high value (such as weather and climate data) to private companies.

To download the report and for more information, visit here

GWEF Expert Groups – Please Join

As announced earlier, GWEF will be forming several expert groups to collaboratively develop and advance the following topics: (1) Long-term development and innovations within the GWEF; (2) Scaling up the role of academic sector in the PPE in Hydromet; and (3) Piloting individual solution at a regional and national level in South Asia. You are kindly invited to join any (or all) of the expert groups to start defining the next steps and outcomes. Please contact the group leads or GWE Forum.

We are implementing a system on our website www.gweforum.org to host the Expert Groups and more information will be sent to GWEF members in the near future, so please register if you haven't yet done so.

Expert Group 1: Long-term development and innovations within the GWEF

The objective is to develop and pilot public-private engagement approaches that will help define how modernization and improvement of hydromet services would look like in mid- to long-term perspective given that the hydromet space is gradually moving away from “customer/vendor” type of relations towards more sophisticated PPE models. Identifying several key trends will help developing countries align their current activities with what will be relevant in mid- and long-term perspective and prioritize their investments and intellectual resources. The group will also explore possible way to address the current countries needs and how they can be supported by research and innovations. To report on the outputs of the expert group work, GWEF will organize a series of smaller workshops. Expert group lead is Jim Anderson, HMEI Chair, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at Earth Networks.

Expert Group 2: Scaling up the role of the academic sector in the hydromet enterprise

The successful involvement of the academic sector in the hydromet enterprise is all too often lacking in low- and middle- income nations. Recent studies (e.g. The Power of Partnership published by the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery) note the critical role of the academic sector in growing and sustaining the hydromet domain. For example, the academic involvement in education and training is the foundation for ensuring the availability of those human resources necessary to sustain the hydromet enterprise. The potential to rapidly adapt and utilize scientific advances from the academic sector's research and development is critical to innovating and sustaining the hydro-met value by pushing the boundaries of the entire global weather enterprise forward. This expert group seeks to find paths toward a closer integration of the academic sector into the hydromet enterprise in low incomes nations in order to develop and sustain PPEs. The expert group is formed and led by David Parsons, Director Emeritus, Professor, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma.

Expert Group 3: Piloting individual solutions at a regional and national level in South Asia

The expert group will work on the practical ways to bridge activities discussed in the GWE forum with the activities planned under the South Asia Hydromet Program, in particular, but not limited to a strategy for numerical weather prediction and optimization of observations. The objective is to apply research and innovation developments in the production of reliable forecasts and information in hydromet services in specific countries and potentially open these opportunities for countries in other regions like Africa and Latin America. The work of the expert group will be guided by David Rogers, Sr. Hydrometeorological Advisor, Consultant, World Bank and GFDRR.

CONTACTING THE GWE FORUM

The GWE Forum can be contacted here