The Weather Enterprise: a global public:private partnership
At the WMO 68th Executive Council meeting in June 2016, a special dialogue took place on co-operation between the public and private sectors in meteorology. Here a speaker at that session gives his personal view on the discussion and the next steps that are needed
The weather enterprise is a well-established and successful global public-private partnership in which both sectors share common goals. There are new opportunities emerging to develop this partnership further that will enable the whole enterprise to grow and produce more accurate and reliable weather forecasts. The urgency to do this comes from the need to be even more effective in saving lives and protecting infrastructure because of vulnerability to weather hazards in a changing climate.
Professor Alan Thorpe
Visiting Professor, University of Reading
Alan is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading following on from being the Director-General of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts between 2011 and 2015.
Alan has wide-ranging public sector and private sector experience which he will bring to the role. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the Natural Environment Research Council, the founding Director of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading.
Alan was appointed as an OBE in 2016, has honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from the universities of Warwick, Birmingham, and Reading and was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Meteorological Society in 2018.
He is also involved with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery of the World Bank and the Global Weather Enterprise Forum. He provides scientific advice to Spire Global.
