Indra leads the Estrateco R&D+I project to develop a system to manage natural assets

Indra, the premier IT company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe, leads the Estrateco R&D+i project. It seeks to develop a natural assets management and valuation system to facilitate decision-making for institutions and firms by offering a global vision of the impact of their decisions and actions on the ecosystem.
The project is carried out in cooperation with Argentina in the framework of the Iberoeka programme, a cooperation initiative among technological and innovative Ibero-American companies, and will be partially financed by CDTI in Spain. Indra will coordinate the work through its Software Lab network and Ambiental Argentina S.L., an environmental consultancy services firm; and Secuoyas, a Spanish company specialised in multiplatform interactive spaces and global strategies over the internet, will also participate in the development.
Thanks to Estrateco, authorities and companies in charge of the environmental heritage or whose activities affect the ecosystem will be able to simulate in a visual and friendly way the impact of their decisions on the natural assets and hence evaluate the economical significance. For instance, a map of an area will show how many trees need to be cut down to build a motorway or a factory as well as associated costs in a short and long term, or how the construction of a housing development may affect the river flow or the advantages of green areas in an industrial environment in terms of reduction of CO2 emissions in addition to knowing the economical consequences of such actions.
Estrateco will first identify the natural resources of an area by means of orthophotography and other satellite images, from timber extraction, wildlife census etc or from previous studies of the area. Afterwards, an economical evaluation of natural assets will be performed and with the help of a causal model based on artificial intelligence, the equivalence principles and the relationship among the different natural resources and the economic impact will be identified.

A serious game approach for greater impact
Thanks to the serious-game approach used in the design of the user interface, the system will create a simple interactive experience but with a great impact to create interest and increase environmental awareness.
The solution will include a dashboard using real data with management indicators showing the environmental condition of an area, for instance:  pollution, CO2 emissions, noise level, water level, erosion, microclimate, biodiversity and so on. In addition to this, urban indicators will display the levels of industrialization, parks or playgrounds, residential areas, projects of infrastructures etc. The natural assets can be considered from different perspectives: taking into account the physical information, the social and cultural opportunities they offer and its environmental or economical value.
The project also includes a social network to facilitate collaboration among different entities, information to citizens about the condition of an area or to provide feedback regarding the impact of the citizens’ actions.

Evaluation of Las Yungas and Valles Calchaquíes
The project includes a pilot integrating information of the Argentinean ecosystems of Las Yungas and Valles Calchiquíes, located in the province of Tucuman, as they are considered among the most diverse ecosystems of the country. After identifying the natural assets of both locations, the economical value will be calculated and then the benefits and the costs of several actions such as the use of the area, improvements in the environment, etc, will be assessed.
The smart system will allow to perform simulations and to verify the impact of decision-making on the assets. This way, Las Yungas and Valle Clachaquíes can be strategically managed and their progress can be measured and planned.

Innovation and the environment
Estrateco complies with the guidelines of “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity TEEB” report, which paved the way for a movement to include the value of ecosystems in the calculation of countries’ Gross Domestic Product as well as with the new EC legislation directive. This directive states the polluter responsible should take or finance the necessary preventive or remedial measures themselves.
This revolutionary initiative adds to Indra's experience in other projects of management of environmental resources in line with Indra's sustainability policy. As a global firm, Indra contributes innovation to sustainable development, in this case, applied to solutions and services which facilitate the management and enhancement of environmental conditions.

Indra
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to investment in R&D with nearly € 500 M during the last three years. In 2010 revenues reached € 2,557 M of which a 40% came from the international market. The company employs more than 31,000 professionals and has clients in more than 110 countries.