Below is an updated description of Icebreaker One based on the feedback we’ve had over the past four weeks. It includes more specifics about what Icebreaker One will do to accelerate change.
Icebreaker One brings together the public and private sectors to unlock the innovation and finance needed to address our climate and biodiversity emergencies.
Our ability to use existing and emerging data to address our environmental crises is currently stifled. We need better ways to share data. The inhibitor is not technology but culture—organisations are stuck in legacy models that mandate that they hold everything ‘closed’ and negotiate potential uses of their data on a case-by-case basis. This holds back innovation: data is not discoverable, it is not clearly licensed for use, it is not in formats that people can easily use to create value. And while there is an ocean of available capital, the lack of good data-flow is leading to misallocation of resources, missed opportunities and is creating catastrophic risks on our global balance sheets.
Building on transdisciplinary partnerships, and decades of experience with open standards, data governance, mass collaboration, and public-private-community partnerships, Icebreaker One will unlock the flow of decision-critical data exchange to enable a multi-$trillion shift in climate-resilient infrastructure investment. It will create private goods: enabling businesses to make money, save money and reduce risk. Equally, it will create public goods: enabling nations to protect their society, environment and economy.
As a global, independent and non-partisan non-profit, Icebreaker One will systematically unlock value through targeted and collaborative action. It will work to:
- Rapidly and continuously convene the public and private sectors to understand their needs and identify associated blockers and opportunities.
- Explore, document and apply pragmatic business models with commercial partners.
- Explore, document and apply pragmatic policy, regulatory, IP, legal and licensing frameworks that can encourage and support positive market behaviours.
- Proactively initiate, incubate, accelerate and catalyse projects by bringing together ideas, experts, organisations and funding.
- Develop, document and publish shared principles and practice, values and standards that can be widely adopted, reused and repurposed to suit specific applications.
- Create and communicate clearly the outputs, outcomes and impacts of its work.
We believe there is a global convergence of desires whereby the collective intelligence of our people and machines can be brought to bear to solve these converging crises of our time. To make the wealth of data we have usable and radically improve our investments in, and planning and management of our global infrastructure. To consider our data infrastructure as important as our physical infrastructure in averting the climate crisis.
Together, we can make environmental intelligence available for everyone and everything: unlocking access to the knowledge, skills, models, tools and technologies we have today, and lay solid foundations for the coming insight revolution.
We call on public and private organisations to add their voice to this collective action today, by joining Icebreaker One as a Stage 1 Founder Member. Please contact gea@dgen.net for details