GIA Students, Finalists at AGBAR’s AB Data Challenge

Pau Escobar and Pablo Chacón, students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence at FIB, were finalists of the AB Data Challenge, AGBAR’s data innovation competition, presenting their project AquaEquity to the jury on January 28 at the Ciutat de l'Aigua.

AquaEquity is a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect anomalies in water consumption and predict future patterns, integrating socioeconomic indicators to prioritize actions according to each census section in Barcelona. The solution includes heatmaps to visualize data and a natural language assistant that helps make strategic decisions using official information from Aigües de Barcelona’s website.

The AB Data Challenge challenged participants to innovate using smart metering data and other external sources, with different challenges such as detecting anomalous consumption, analyzing the impact of global changes on water use, predicting smart meter incidents, or Open Innovation. The students chose the Open Innovation category, developing a solution with a positive social and environmental impact. They passed a first filter of over 40 projects to reach the 6 finalists, having two months to develop their proposal.

According to Pau and Pablo, participating in the AB Data Challenge was "a unique opportunity to apply AI techniques to a problem with direct social impact," showing how technology can contribute to more sustainable water management.

Congratulations, fibers, on your effort and dedication!