Technical - Partner Event
AI Seminar – Myrna Bittner
When
June 4, 2021 - June 4, 2021
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MST
Where
Online
Online
Title: RWI’s Story of Calculating Impact with Scenario-based Intelligence and De-risking in Single Synthetic Environments
Presenter: Myrna Bittner, RWI Synthetics
Abstract: RUNWITHIT started in 2014, using AI-based modelling to address system complexity and risk, building synthetic realities around global digital systems to explore unprecedented futures. Work included modelling around variety of communications, digital, AI, geospatial and IoT systems, and a modelling platform emerged capable of modelling tens of millions of diverse entities to explore emergent behaviour. This has lead to RWI’s current role in supplying rapid Single Synthetic Environments based on an extensive, collaborative catalogue for multiple sectors. One example is energy. As threats to energy grids increase, connecting measures to ensure grid readiness, energy security, and resilience becomes critical. The additional pressures of electrification, decentralization, climate change, and cyber attacks, demand more adaptive scenario planning, mitigating technology and education. Applications of artificial intelligence-based modelling can make these complex futures more accessible to all stakeholders, such as a Single Synthetic Environment, a modelling approach that creates a living digital twin. These accurate geospatial environments include hyper-localized models of the people and businesses, the infrastructure, technology and policies, and then enable any future scenario to play forward. The models don’t rely solely on historical data or precedent; they produce the data required to compare and optimize different options based on quantified impacts and outcomes. This data can range from calculating psychosocial responses in customers such as equity, engagement, adoption, trust, and willingness to pay to measuring demand-side shifts created by new patterns of life, technology adoption, and climate shifts. For High Impact Low Frequency events, Single Synthetic Environments provide insight into the impact of investment choices, expose cascading vulnerabilities, and furnish opportunities to innovate resilience measures. Tomorrow is not like yesterday, and there are incredible opportunities to improve the forward radar of energy transition, mobility and resilience assisted by scenario-based artificial intelligence.
Bio: Myrna Bittner is the CEO and Co-Founder of RWI Synthetics (2014), an AI-based modelling company that creates Single Synthetic Environments (SSE) for disrupted sectors. SSE's are live, geospatially accurate cities or regions, complete with their people, activity, policies, infrastructure used to calculate the impacts of all kinds of opportunities and risks, existing and anticipated, under any conceivable scenarios. The technology of RWI originates from a previous venture of Myrna's in the ‘90s, NeuralVR, a neural net and 3D visualization research company focused on organizing, aggregating, and visualizing unstructured documents. In 2019, RWI created its first SSE of a city for the Keynote at the IoT World Expo in Silicon Valley. In 2020, Myrna and her team were a part of the Incubatenergy® Labs Challenge, creating a POC of a dual-disaster for EPRI and Phoenix-based utility, Salt River Projects. Building on this, in 2021, EPRI and RWI partnered on a project showcased at AFWERX, reimagining energy for the USAF with Synthetic Bases. RWI is also a finalist in Toyota Mobility Foundation’s City Architecture of Tomorrow Challenge, reimagining the future of mobility in Kuala Lumpur. RWI is a women-led, Certified Aboriginal Business, passionate about diversity and representation in their team, process, and technology, working with clients to ensure that intersectionality, diversity, equity, and inclusion are incorporated into the design of better futures.Presenter Bio: Bruce Matichuk is the Co-Founder and CTO of Health Gauge an Edmonton based company building a health information platform. Bruce has an MSc in Computing Science from the UofA and has worked as the CTO for several AI based startups in the region including Celcorp, Poynt, Clinitrust, and AiDANT. Bruce has published research in the area of AI and has filed several patents relating to the use of AI in industry. Bruce’s research focus is in intelligent agents including automated code generation, visual recognition and conversational system. Bruce also provides regular talks to industry on the emergence and use of AI.
The University of Alberta Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seminar is a weekly meeting where researchers (including students, developers, and professors) interested in AI can share their current research. Presenters include local speakers from the University of Alberta and industry as well as other institutions. The seminars discuss a wide range of topics related in any way to Artificial Intelligence, from foundational theoretical work to innovative applications of AI techniques to new fields and problems are of interest. Learn more at the AI Seminar website and by subscribing to the mailing list!
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