Innovative Partnership Models to Advance the Delivery of Weather, Water and Climate Services

Increasing demands for high quality weather, water and climate services; the explosion of new technology including the internet of things; and financial considerations are giving rise to innovative public-private partnerships. While traditional partnership models (e.g., for-profit organizations providing products or services) will continue, new models are evolving. And these new models often involve parties not traditionally involved in weather services, for example cell phone manufacturers and cloud service providers.

The Seventeenth Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (2015) recognized the potential value of such partnerships in helping national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHS) meet their mission and directed the Secretariat to develop guidance on forming these partnerships. This same Congress also discussed the role of the private sector in delivering weather, water and climate services.

This paper will review different partnership models and their potential benefits and challenges. It will provide a recap of decisions of the WMO Congress with respect to partnerships. And finally, it will provide a status of The Weather Company's efforts in its partnership with cloud providers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to advance the Administration's goal of making data open and accessible.