China's Air Pollution Market: A Growing Opportunity for Tech Firms

As Beijing's 22 million residents struggle with acrid smog, authorities have declared unprecedented "red alerts" this month, sparking a surge in demand for advanced air quality forecasting technology. Two tech giants, IBM and Microsoft, are vying to capitalize on this nascent market, which is being driven by the Chinese government's efforts to improve monitoring and management of the country's notorious smog.

Key Takeaways:

• IBM and Microsoft are competing to tap the growing market for air quality forecasting in China, with the government seeking improvements in monitoring and managing pollution.
• Advances in "cognitive computing" have enabled more sophisticated forecasting software to predict air quality up to 10 days in advance using data on weather, traffic, land use, and real-time pollution levels.
• Forecasts can help governments plan closures of schools and airports, restrict vehicles, postpone sporting events, and decide which polluting factories to shut down temporarily.
• Chinese authorities have only begun releasing real-time PM2.5 levels in 2012, after the US embassy started publishing its own data on Twitter.
• IBM's first client was the city of Beijing's environmental protection bureau, which bases its colour-coded pollution alerts on IBM's technology.

Statistics:

• 22 million: The population of Beijing, one of the world's most populous cities.
• 10 days: The maximum forecast period for air quality using advanced software.
• 2.5 microns: The diameter of airborne particulate matter (PM2.5) that can penetrate deep into the lungs.
• 2012: The year Chinese authorities began releasing real-time PM2.5 levels.
• 2013: The year Dustin Grzesik created Banshirne.com, a free website and smartphone app that predicts clean air days using publicly available weather data.

Sources:

• [Yu Zheng, researcher, Microsoft]
• [Robert Rohde, Berkeley Earth]
• [Chinese authorities]
• [IBM]
• [Microsoft]
• [Dustin Grzesik, creator of Banshirne.com]
• [Chinese government]
• [Beijing environmental protection bureau]