As part of the hackathon, held at Google’s offices, joint teams from Mekorot and Google Cloud developed practical solutions for challenges in water supply, operations, service and consumption. Select solutions will move forward toward implementation in Mekorot’s work processes.
Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, and Google Cloud, in cooperation with Commit, completed a joint innovation hackathon entitled, “Turning Ideas into Products.” The hackathon was designed to develop digital solutions powered by artificial intelligence for the worlds of water, operations and service. Senior executives from the national water company, as well as management teams and professional teams from the companies involved participated.
During the hackathon, joint working groups from Mekorot, Google Cloud and Commit operated across several roundtables, focusing on key challenges at the core of Mekorot’s activity as Israel’s national water company. The areas examined included improving the reliability of water supply, streamlining operational and control processes, strengthening customer service, advanced data analysis, early detection of faults, decision making support, and the use of artificial intelligence tools to improve service and operational performance.
At the end of the day, the teams presented the solutions they had developed to company management and representatives of Google Cloud. Several concepts were then selected for immediate advancement, with the goal of turning them into practical tools that will be integrated into Mekorot’s work processes. In this way, the hackathon moved from creative thinking into actual implementation, development and deployment.
Mekorot stated that the hackathon represents another step in deepening the use of data, digital tools and artificial intelligence as central working tools within the company. The cooperation with Google is intended to accelerate the transition from ideas to solutions, connect operational and engineering knowledge with advanced technological capabilities, and create real value for Israel’s water sector and the Israeli public.
Adv. Moshe Shimoni, Chairman of the Mekorot Board of Directors said, “This initiative reflects Mekorot’s strategy to continue embedding technological innovation at the heart of Israel’s national infrastructure systems. Mekorot manages a large and complex water system every day. The integration of advanced digital tools and artificial intelligence allows the company to strengthen monitoring capabilities, improve operational continuity, optimize energy consumption and prepare more effectively for the future challenges of the water sector.”
In response, Google Cloud said, “We are proud to bring Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence solutions and advanced data capabilities to our business cooperation with Mekorot. This hackathon enables us to advance new ideas and turn them into practical tools in the field, which will significantly improve operational processes, streamline work procedures and upgrade the service provided to the public.”