Focused expertise
Tap into a concentrated team of researchers in AI, climate and sustainability, working full-time on your specific problem for five days.
AI & Climate Sustainability Sandbox
Part-fundedTackle your company’s climate and sustainability challenge with AI.
The Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water, in partnership with Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, invites forward-thinking companies to take part in an intensive, one-week AI Sandbox event at Trinity College Dublin, where AI will tackle your climate and sustainability challenges.
Bring your most pressing AI and sustainability challenge and a team of AI specialists, climate modelers, hydrologists and energy experts will use their skills to deliver innovative, research driven solutions you need. Over five days, your problem will be analysed, modelled, and prototyped. You’ll walk away with early-stage solutions, tested code, open-source documentation, and a strategic report tailored to your business.
Business benefits
Turn a climate or sustainability challenge into a practical AI prototype
Over five focused days, your organisation gets concentrated technical expertise, structured experimentation and tangible outputs designed around a real business challenge.
Rapid prototyping
Watch your challenge evolve from concept to near-solution within a week, complete with tangible outputs and tested code.
Risk-free experimentation
Safely test AI models and data strategies without disrupting existing systems or committing to a large transformation project.
Open-source outputs
Receive openly shared outputs, from code to methodology, to support replication, internal learning and future development.
Reputation enhancement
Position your company at the intersection of applied AI, environmental leadership and enterprise innovation.
Who’s involved?
Led by climate, data science and sustainability research expertise
The AI & Climate Sustainability Sandbox brings together specialist academic expertise, applied research capability and industry-focused delivery to help companies explore practical AI solutions for climate and sustainability challenges.
Sandbox Lead Instructor
Andrew Parnell
Deputy Director of the Co-Centre and Professor of Data Science for Weather and Climate at University College Dublin.
Data science expertise
Specialist focus on weather, climate and applied analytics.
Research-led delivery
Connecting enterprise challenges with academic and technical capability.
Research Partner Institutions
Delivered with a broad research network across climate, biodiversity, water, data science and sustainability.
AI Sandbox case studies
See how organisations are turning climate challenges into AI prototypes
Explore practical examples from the AI & Climate Sustainability Sandbox, including how enterprise challenges were shaped, tested and developed into early-stage AI solutions.
2026 programme case study
Prototyping the Future: How Enterprise AI is Solving Real-World Climate and Operational Challenges
A practical look at how Galetech Group and Grant Thornton Ireland used the sandbox to move from operational climate challenges to early-stage AI prototypes and deployment roadmaps.
Read the case study
2025 programme case study
Turning Climate and Sustainability Challenges into Rapid AI Prototypes
See how ODOS Tech and Zinto Labs used the sandbox to explore AI-led solutions for land-use mapping, agricultural sustainability analytics and marine preservation.
Read the case study
Apply to take part
Built for organisations with a real challenge to solve
The AI & Climate Sustainability Sandbox is for companies ready to bring a defined sustainability, climate or operational problem into a structured AI sprint.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions our team are asked most often about this programme. If your question is not answered here, make an enquiry and we will come back to you.
The Sandbox is designed for organisations with a defined climate, sustainability or related operational challenge that could benefit from AI, data science or advanced analytics. Rather than being a general AI training course, it gives participating companies access to specialist researchers who work intensively on a real business problem over five days.
Suitable challenges can involve areas such as climate risk, renewable energy, environmental data, sustainability analytics, operational efficiency or decision support. Previous Sandbox projects have included AI-assisted wind turbine maintenance, renewable energy optimisation, residential flood-loss prediction, land-use mapping, agricultural sustainability analytics and marine preservation.
You should come to the Sandbox with a defined business, climate or sustainability problem, but you do not need to arrive with an AI solution already designed. The purpose of the week is to take that challenge through structured analysis, modelling and experimentation towards an early-stage prototype and a clearer route for further development.
No dedicated in-house AI team is required. The Sandbox brings together researchers with expertise in AI, data science, climate modelling, hydrology, energy and sustainability to work on your problem. Your organisation can provide business and domain knowledge to help the researchers understand the challenge and its real-world context.
Over one intensive week, the research team works full-time on your organisation’s challenge. The problem is analysed, modelled and prototyped using appropriate AI and data approaches, with the aim of moving quickly from problem definition to a tangible early-stage solution that can be evaluated by your organisation. The November 2026 Sandbox will take place in person at Trinity College Dublin’s Innovation Hub.
Outputs can include an early-stage AI solution, functional prototype, tested code, documentation and a strategic report tailored to your challenge. The objective is to give your organisation something tangible that can support internal evaluation, stakeholder buy-in and decisions about whether and how to continue developing the solution.
The programme is built around an open-source approach, with outputs such as code and methodology intended to be openly shared to support replication, learning and future development. If your proposed challenge involves commercially sensitive information, confidential data or intellectual property considerations, these should be discussed with the programme team before applying.
Up to three staff members from each participating organisation can take part. Engagement can be flexible: your team can provide guidance, context and domain expertise as the work progresses, while the research team carries out the intensive technical work. The programme is designed so that participating organisations can contribute without needing to supply their own development team.
The programme is part-funded through Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, reducing the cost to participating organisations. The subsidised fee for the current intake is available on enquiry, so organisations interested in participating should apply or contact the programme team to discuss the challenge, suitability and current funding support.
