NIBIO Selects Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Services to Improve Sustainable Forest Management

Norwegian forestry research organization is using Oracle Autonomous Database and AI on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to better understand the forest value chain and improve long-term sustainability

The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), an independent research organization, has chosen Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and its powerful data platform, including Oracle Autonomous Database and OCI Data Science, to support key developments in the SmartForest initiative. SmartForest is a NIBIO-led center for research-based innovation carried out in conjunction with other organizations in the Norwegian forest-based value chain.

SmartForest aims to improve the efficiency and impact of the Norwegian forest sector by using advanced technologies to transform forest information, silviculture, wood supply, and forest operations. The SmartForest initiative will enable interdisciplinary scientific researchers to harness forest data and improve forest care and management. For example, researchers will be able to use AI to analyze forest imagery from drones and laser scanning data to support decisions on forestry tasks such as tree identification and mapping, environmental impact of forest operations, and forest damage detection.

“The big issues in today’s world, such as climate change or loss of biodiversity, need to be tackled now with the right technology and tools. A forest has a lifespan of hundreds of years, and the decisions we make have very long-lasting effects on the future,” said Rasmus Astrup, Head of Research at Division of Forest and Forest Resources, NIBIO. “We use OCI to receive data from our sensors, apply the AI algorithms that we’ve developed to transform the data into information to support better decisions, and then store it in Oracle Autonomous Database to make it easily accessible for the end users.”

Drone imagery and scanning data will be uploaded to Oracle Autonomous Database on OCI. Using OCI Data Science with Autonomous Database to develop and manage machine learning models for rapid, low-code application development, researchers should be able to deploy large-scale, readily available AI capacity for sustainable forest management. As a converged database, Oracle Autonomous Database will enable researchers to store all data, including images and image metadata, such as geospatial information.

“Forests are diverse and dynamic, and we depend on them to provide oxygen, shelter, food, and warmth for nearly 80 percent of the earth’s species. More than ever, it’s imperative we look after them,” said Richard Smith, executive vice president for Technology at Oracle EMEA. “NIBIO’s SmartForest initiative perfectly illustrates how cloud technologies can help preserve these vital support systems for life across the planet.”

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