The 2021 WCAIR Competition has come to an end, with Beijing’s Shining Dawn, Singapore’s Smartest City and Juinen’s Untitled Oversight Project moving on to the WCAIR Challenge in Brussels. This year’s WCAIR Chief Judge, Sven Pedersen, called the competition one of the most creative and exciting in WCAIR’s history.
“Never before have we seen such an exciting and engaging range of new and unusual projects, and such a roller-coaster ride of scoring,” Pedersen remarked in the press conference that closed the first phase of the WCAIR. “From ridesharing with self-driving vehicles to managing the growth of a planned community to valuable food-distribution initiatives, this year’s competition has truly highlighted the endless ways in which AI technologies can better human society and our daily lives.”
Unfortunately, one of the competing teams was unable to fully complete the Rankings; Sydney, Australia’s Municipal Harbor Regeneration Project, which had struggled with consistent disagreement in the local city council on the final goals of the initiative, was subject to a summary budget freeze and internal audit after a snap election in the Sydney city council. Despite repeatedly placing in the top 10, the team was forced to shutter their work only 48 hours before the end of the competition ad the municipality reassess its harbor maintenance goals.
Weekly Spotlight
Upgrading the Smartest City: a New Generation of Traffic Management: Singapore already has a reputation as one of the world’s top AI cities, with a heavily-computerized infrastructure management plan in place. Smartest City builds on that reputation, keeping the city’s traffic-management systems up to date as a growth in the city’s tech sector leads to a huge influx of new workers. The project is one of dozens currently ongoing in the city, and has secured municipal funding to continue after the end of the WCAIR.
Shining Dawn Air Quality Assessment Project: Public air quality for the inhabitants of Beijing has been a consistent problem for the city for decades, and new advances in AI monitoring and weather prediction may have allowed for a breakthrough. Shining Dawn will restore Beijing’s clean air by locating and permitting direct action against those businesses and industries violating the city’s strict anti-smog laws. It is hoped that this regulatory project will also have a strong impact on city public health and wellness.
