How public private partnerships can enable better end user forecasts

Lake Street's aim is to help companies 'work with the weather'.  Put another way, we aim to translate the user's question into scientific terms, find the best answer available, and translate it into information useful to the user in decision-making.  Along the way, we have come across a host of challenges, which have encouraged public private partnerships, and inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, to enable progress. 

Using a simple example from agriculture, we will demonstrate how such interactions can enable one to see the differing perspectives of a forecast challenge.  From this new perspective come new ideas, giving potential for both better numerical weather prediction models, and better crop yields.  Whilst the process may seem easy given a theoretical example, the reality is that partnerships and collaborations usually come with a host of challenges, which can seem daunting. 

Trust, open mindedness, acceptance that there is room for improvement are three traits that help - on both sides.  We will mention some practical changes within the weather and climate research communities that we believe would lead to improved engagement with society.  Meanwhile, especially as a small company, Lake Street know that collaboration enable us to both keep delivering quality products, and to feedback to the research community what questions users want answers to.