Editor’s Note: This post is part of our Next ’23 series sharing the latest Google Maps Platform news from the global exhibition of inspiration, innovation, and education. To learn more about our new products, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

According to the World Health Organization, up to ⅓ of the global population suffers from allergic rhinitis, with one quarter of adults in the US having seasonal allergies (roughly 67 million Americans). With the length of pollen seasons and severity of emissions worsening due to the rise in temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the changing climate, businesses are looking to offer their audiences–especially pollen sensitive ones–value beyond just medication provision. To increase engagement levels with these customers and position their brands as a go-to resource for seasonal allergy sufferers, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses to provide their users with reliable and actionable information on airborne pollen levels worldwide. Today we’re announcing our new Pollen API so businesses can share this relevant information with their users to help increase brand loyalty and engagement. 

Our Pollen API can be used to help people limit the risks of exposure to allergenic pollen and make better informed daily decisions. It was created to support a variety of use cases with health-related benefits for your customers. 

Relevant, localized pollen count dataHeatmap visualizationsDetailed plant allergen informationActionable tips to minimize pollen exposure

The data behind our Pollen API

Traditional pollen reporting is very manual, time-consuming, and often provides delayed results. Not to mention that for pollen sensitive people, it’s also important to have information about the specific plants and species they’re sensitive to. In order to provide useful, localized risk indicators to pollen-sensitive groups, it’s essential to distinguish between grass, weed, and tree pollen produced by various plant species. As pollen seasons continue to change and become harder to predict, traditional reporting of pollen counts are usually missing the information–especially at the local level–necessary to effectively assist people with their allergies. 

Our Pollen API is based on a model that calculates the seasonality and daily amount of pollen grains on a 1×1 km2 grid in over 65 countries worldwide, supporting an up to 5-day forecast, 3 plant types, and 15 different plant species. The model uses various inputs like land cover, climatological data, annual pollen production per plant, and more to deliver reliable output predictions of the local pollen level and exposure risk. 

Capabilities for healthier decision making and business growth

Providing personalized, location-based, plant-specific, timely pollen data is the key to engaging and educating impacted audiences. With our Pollen API, you can offer data-based insights for healthier decision making and support business growth opportunities such as:

Helping allergy sufferers minimize reactions by enabling them to optimize medication use, choose ideal times and cleanest routes for outdoor activities, and keep indoor spaces as pollen-free as possible. Empowering users to prepare for changes in pollen levels with useful pollen information through digital channels, like social, email, and website alerts. ​​Creating interactive visual experiences that convey granular pollen information to help people make quicker, more informed health related decisions, increasing engagement and brand loyalty, and helping to differentiate your brand.

What pollen data can do for your business

Pollen data presents a unique opportunity for businesses–whether it’s an opportunity to build brand loyalty and trust, increase engagement and product value, or become a catalyst for a more resilient community. Tailored forecasts and dynamic environmental visualizations help people ‘see’ and understand the air around them, and take action accordingly. Such implementations of pollen data can enable business growth across a variety of industries:

For companies providing allergy services: personalized pollen data can be used to improve supply management and demand planning, inform market analysis, identify consumer trends to inform current and future product roadmaps. 

For health or health-related businesses: By leveraging geolocal pollen data, you can deliver health-focused alerts and recommendations based on the specific needs and the environment of an individual allergy sufferer; for instance, alerts to take medication before increases in specific pollen counts are likely to occur or informing allergy sufferers when allergy risk is low so they can enjoy outdoor activities. This can lend itself to enhanced engagement with your product and brand.

For companion apps: Multiple-day pollen forecasts can be used to enhance offerings and open up new streams of monetization, by providing more long-term value to your users and enabling them to adopt healthier lifestyle habits like improved planning for daily and weekly travel, vacation and holiday trips, or even work purposes.

With the potential to significantly impact peoples’ lives, we’re excited to see the innovations created by integrating pollen data into various business models. The Pollen API is in Preview and currently available to existing Google Maps Platform customers. To get started, check out our Pollen API webpage. To learn more about our new suite of Environment APIs, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of our Next ’23 series sharing the latest Google Maps Platform news from the global exhibition of inspiration, innovation, and education. To learn more about our new products, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

The global energy crisis, higher electricity prices, policy momentum, and reduced costs have driven unprecedented growth in renewable energy, with solar accounting for two-thirds of 2023’s projected increase in global renewable capacity. In fact, we saw global search interest in “rooftop solar power” increase 60% last year on Google. With solar becoming more accessible, there’s increased potential and demand to bring information and technology to solar companies and developers around the world. That’s why today we launched our Solar API, within a new suite of environment APIs from Google Maps Platform. The Solar API surfaces important building, rooftop, shading, and panel configuration data covering over 320 million buildings in 40 countries, with the goal of helping accelerate the transition to clean, renewable, solar energy. 

The development of the Solar API

Years ago, a team at Google launched Project Sunroof to help people understand their estimated solar savings potential by installing a rooftop system. Naturally, companies wanted access to this information so they could better plan and implement solar technology. In order to tailor the product to meet specific business needs, we spent several years working closely with solar industry leaders from around the world to test and develop a comprehensive solar data solution.  

The Solar API offers several features that benefit solar marketplace websites, solar installers, SaaS developers, and any user looking to understand rooftop solar potential of a particular address. The API provides two distinct endpoints:

The Building Insights endpoint provides details of a building’s location, dimensions, and solar potential. It contains information such as the size and slope of the roof and the modeled energy production of a rooftop array. This information can be used to assess the potential benefits of installing solar, and can be used by solar professionals to help home and building owners explore and compare different solar configurations.

The Data Layers endpoint returns more granular details in regards to raw solar information for an area surrounding a location. Details include shading that may affect a system’s performance and a digital surface model of the rooftop which can facilitate the detailed system placement and layout. This information can be used by solar installers to create custom solar proposals and by SaaS developers to automate the design of more efficient panel arrays.

Explore the demo to see how the Solar API can help accelerate solar deployment.

Improve your solar installation sales process

It’s not unusual for a residential solar design and installation to be a long, multistep time-consuming process. Solar companies typically need to spend time educating property owners, manually measuring rooftops, configuring multiple designs (often with incomplete solar potential information), and preparing financial information–all before closing an installation contract. 
By using the Solar API, solar businesses can improve the customer experience for interested property owners, create reliable project proposals without requiring an on-site visit, and expedite the overall installation process. Each of these elements contributes to accelerating rooftop solar deployment and mitigating carbon emissions. 

Enhance customer experiences 

The Solar API allows companies to build solutions that easily educate and engage potential clients with high quality, visual insights about their rooftop’s solar potential for a specific address. This allows customers to have personalized, relevant information at their fingertips within seconds. Companies can also use the Solar API to provide cost savings estimates, array designs, and reliable quotes without the need for a home visit. Streamlining the sales journey with automated, online access to what consumers need to make a decision, greatly improves customer satisfaction and trust, while naturally increasing conversions with less effort and lower costs.

A longstanding pilot user and now Solar API customer, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) created Suncle, an online rooftop solar energy simulation to make the process of incorporating solar energy as easy and enjoyable as possible. 

“By inputting an address, homeowners can locate their residence on the map, and adjust their electricity bill and solar installation size as they wish. They can find out installation costs, local subsidies available, cost savings, break even point, and how much impact their solar installation could have on reducing CO2, all in a few seconds. To get these figures without Suncle, they would need to have installers visit their house,” says Masami Jenkins, Director, Environment & Social Business Design Lab, TEPCO. “Suncle’s free online solar energy simulations get rid of this initial pain point and bring renewable energy closer to consumers. This is made possible by the Solar API, which calculates and provides every roof’s solar energy potential so that we can provide these insights instantly to homeowners interested in going solar.” 

Create better proposals, save money, and broaden opportunities

With access to advanced data and imagery, solar professionals are able to create detailed, customized solar designs and proposals. Panel layouts that optimize solar energy can be created quickly and easily using clear images showing ridgelines, roof penetrations, obstacles, and shade patterns over time. This helps with accuracy and reduces the potential for reworks on the roof and adjustments to the original quote.

The data and insights provided by the Solar API are focused on replacing costly manual processes with time-saving automated ways to determine a rooftop’s viability and requirements for a solar installation that maximizes the energy potential of each panel. Saving installers time and money, while removing barriers to the finalizing sales.

Additionally, the Solar API’s broad coverage allows professionals to look across neighborhoods and regions to prioritize installation locations, investments, and business growth opportunities. 

Walid Halty, Co-Founder and CEO of Mona Lee, a solar installation company, says, “At Mona Lee Solar, we’re disrupting the solar installation industry using AI to instantly create the optimal solar design to match a homeowner’s energy needs. The Solar API is a key input–it instantly gives us the data we need to analyze rooftops to determine how much sunlight they get to create customer proposals within the same workflow. By doing this remotely and instantly, we have greater cost savings and can provide a better customer experience, helping our business grow quickly in this space.” 

Be part of a cleaner future

Accelerating the deployment of clean technology to help mitigate carbon emissions at scale is one of our top priorities, with the Solar API playing an integral role. The transition to clean energy is a critical step in fighting climate change and a key part of Google’s commitment to help individuals, cities, and customers collectively reduce 1 gigaton of their carbon equivalent emissions annually by 2030. By making unique, innovative, building-level solar information accessible to the industry, we hope to enable solutions that lower costs, improve efficiency, and ultimately inspire more people to transition to solar powered energy. 

Looking ahead, we aspire to drive both short-term progress and long-term breakthroughs. No company–no matter how ambitious–can solve a challenge as big as climate change alone. One of the most powerful things we can do is build technology that allows us, our customers, and individuals around the world to take meaningful action. We’re optimistic about what’s possible with the Solar API and our suite of Environment APIs. 

To get started, check out our Solar API webpage and visit the documentation.  To learn more about our new suite of Environment APIs, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of our Next ’23 series sharing the latest Google Maps Platform news from the global exhibition of inspiration, innovation, and education. To learn more about our new products, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11- 11:45 a.m. PDT.

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to health. With the changing climate and increase in wildfires around the world, the quality of the air we breathe will likely continue to worsen. Today we announced the general availability of our Air Quality API, as part of a new suite of environment APIs available from Google Maps Platform. The Air Quality API gives you access to robust and reliable air quality data, lets you visualize pollution via heatmaps, and lets you share in-depth pollutant details and recommendations. Empower people to avoid air pollution exposure and risks while improving business outcomes like user engagement and brand loyalty.  Create new revenue streams by adding air quality information as a premium feature. Or help increase sales by proving product value.

How the Air Quality API works

Air quality is highly dynamic, and it’s often a challenge to track with traditional reporting methods due to limitations such as delays in reporting and lack of coverage between stations.To account for the dynamic nature of air pollution, we combine information from multiple data sources, which include government monitoring stations, sensors, models, meteorological data, satellites, land cover, and live traffic information. This approach means we’re able to collect information even when one source becomes unavailable. 

We validate and organize several terabytes of data each hour resulting in air quality information that is reliable and specific to the user’s location. This means that businesses can be the go-to for health-related decision making for minimizing exposure to air pollution–even when it comes to the hyperlocal questions such as which park to go to, whether to walk or drive to the office, and if they’re likely to need their asthma inhaler.

Deliver air quality information that empowers users to take action

Our air quality data includes current and historical air quality, calculated in almost half a billion locations globally, covering 100 countries up to a 500 meter (or 1650 feet) resolution. As air quality is often measured on different scales around the world, we provide a universal air quality index to easily make global comparisons; additionally, over 70 local indexes are also included. And you can provide this granularity all over the globe and, in many countries, in your user’s local index for familiarity or as a universal index to easily compare to other locations.

With these features you can empower people to monitor the surrounding air quality and make more informed decisions, with information such as: when it’s safe to exercise/have leisure time outside; what’s the best route for a hike, bike, or drive; when to activate air purifiers and stay indoors; and when vulnerable groups should take preventative action to improve symptom management

How air quality data can improve user experience

With the Air Quality API you can become a dependable source of key insights to inform healthier daily decision making in a way that also supports business growth. Tailored reporting and dynamic environmental visualizations are highly engaging, as they help people ‘see’ and understand the air around them, and take action accordingly. 

Smart home brands can leverage air quality forecasts and insights to better manage wellness in indoor spaces, providing more value to their users through digital solutions that don’t require new hardware investment. This also applies to smart environment management systems in workplaces, classrooms, hospitals, and various other public and commercial buildings.

Healthcare companies can leverage air quality and other environmental data to inform research ventures and treatment plans to better engage patients and empower them in their own care to achieve improved health outcomes.

Smart mobility and automotive brands can enhance environmental protection during daily journeys with cleaner route planning and insights on the go that automate in-cabin air treatment systems or prompt motorists to turn on their AC or close the windows to minimize exposure to harmful air quality conditions on the road.

Getting started 

Whether your business is looking for a way to build brand loyalty and trust, increase engagement and product value, or become a catalyst for a more informed community, the Air Quality API supports a variety of use cases with health related benefits for your customers.

With the potential to significantly impact peoples’ lives, we’re excited to see the innovations created by integrating air quality data into various business models. To get started, check out our Air Quality webpage and documentation. To learn more about our new suite of Environment APIs, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11-11:45 a.m. PDT. 

Editor’s Note: This post is part of our Next ’23 series sharing the latest Google Maps Platform news from the global exhibition of inspiration, innovation, and education. To learn more about our new products, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

When it comes to the environment, we’re at a moment that’s defining a generation and will impact generations to come. Now more than ever, it’s important to continue our efforts to reduce our environmental impact–and we know that we get more done when we move together. Over the years we’ve evolved what a map can do. Now we’re expanding what developers can do with Google Maps Platform to build experiences that pave the way for a sustainable future. Today ahead of Google Cloud Next ’23, we introduced a new suite of Environment APIs: Solar, Air Quality, and Pollen. These APIs help developers better understand an ever-changing world so they can create new sustainability tools, share actionable insights, and encourage people to adapt to new environmental realities.

Scaling solar adoption and installation

Clean energy alternatives are essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy insecurity. To help accelerate solar adoption and deployment, we launched the Solar API with the goal of helping solar companies give homeowners the information they need to make informed decisions about solar installation. The Solar API builds on the foundation of Project Sunroof, a personalized solar savings estimator for consumers powered by Google Earth imagery. We’ve expanded on these capabilities using artificial intelligence to provide data and insights that are more precise than publicly available LIDAR data or satellite-derived 3D models.  

The Solar API has two distinct functionalities to help all kinds of solar companies address solar viability and design. Building Insights provide quick insights into solar viability, such as the amount of sunlight a building receives and the most energy efficient solar panel array. Data Layers provide detailed insights that facilitate the design of solar systems, such as the shading that may affect a system’s performance and the digital surface model of the rooftop.

Available in over 40 countries for over 320 million buildings, the Solar API helps solar companies give their customers the info they need to move forward with solar installation and contribute to a carbon-free future together. For more information on the Solar API, read the announcement blog post.

Understanding environmental changes and taking personal action with air quality and pollen data

The Air Quality API and Pollen API can help companies better understand climate and environmental changes. This gives them the information they need to make informed choices, advocate for change, and build innovative experiences to help mitigate impact. They can also use the information to help their users make more informed decisions for themselves. 

The Air Quality API

The Air Quality API gives companies access to reliable air quality data, the ability to visualize pollution via heatmaps, and the opportunity to deliver in-depth pollutant details and recommendations to target audiences.

To account for the dynamic nature of air pollution, we combine information from multiple data sources, which include government monitoring stations, low-cost sensors, meteorological data, satellites, land cover, and live traffic information. This approach means we’re able to collect information even when one source becomes unavailable. We validate and organize several terabytes of data each hour resulting in air quality information that is reliable and specific to a location. For more information on the Air Quality API, read the announcement blog post. 

The Pollen API

The Pollen API provides access to current pollen information for the most common allergens worldwide. It can be used to help people limit the risks of exposure to allergenic pollen, make better informed daily decisions, and adapt to longer, more severe allergy seasons in the face of a changing climate. The API provides localized pollen count data, heatmap visualizations, detailed plant allergen information, and actionable tips for allergy-sufferers to limit exposure. The Pollen API offers data-based insights for organizations studying the connection between pollen and climate, as well as companies that want to help their users make healthier decisions.

The API is based on a model that calculates the seasonality and daily amount of pollen grains on a 1×1 km2 grid in over 65 countries worldwide, supporting an up to 5-day forecast, 3 plant types, and 15 different plant species. The model uses various inputs like land cover, climatological data, annual pollen production per plant, and more to deliver reliable output predictions of the local pollen level and exposure risk. For more information on the Pollen API, read the announcement blog post. 

We’re excited to bring additional environmental information to developers via Google Maps Platform. By providing access to new environment data as well as immersive experience products like Photorealistic 3D Tiles (moving into Preview soon) and Aerial View (now generally available), we hope to do our part in supporting innovative solutions to climate change. Overlaying environment data on 3D imagery to visualize air quality or pollen levels, is just one way these products can work together. Together we can map our way to a healthier planet.

To learn more about our new suite of Environment APIs, join the What’s New with Google Maps Platform session tomorrow from 11 – 11:45 a.m. PDT.

For more information on Google Maps Platform, visit our website.

It’s that time once again, where we announce the winners of our Google Cloud Customer Awards. These awards celebrate organizations around the world that are turning inspiring ideas into exciting realities. Whether it’s social enterprise experts like Singapore’s FairPrice Group, transformational talent backers like Ford Motor Company, environmental leaders like SAP, or diversity, equity, and inclusion game-changers like COTA—we are honored to celebrate innovators who are building new ways forward with AI, data, infrastructure, collaboration, and security technologies in the cloud.

This year, AI has demonstrated significant potential to help companies innovate and become more efficient. Google Cloud is supporting its customers in this ambition, like one of this year’s industry winners, Carrefour Belgium, which is using Google Cloud AI tools to extract value from its operational data to accelerate insights. AI research and development firm Kakao Brain in South Korea, meanwhile, is using Google Cloud’s AI/ML infrastructure to underpin the generative AI services it provides to its customers. 

Recognizing innovative thinking
Just like last year, we received a tremendous number of entries for the awards, which a panel of senior Google Cloud executives independently assessed according to select criteria. Specifically, judges looked for real-world metrics, examples of innovative thinking, and outstanding business transformation results. Regardless of who won, every organization that submitted an entry should be proud of what they have achieved with cloud technologies.

Google Cloud Customer Awards are given to companies from around the globe and across a number of industries, such as healthcare and life sciences, financial services, and government, using Google Cloud technologies to improve their operations, and their social and governance (ESG) measures. 

Congratulations to all the winners!

Technology for Good Awards

Sustainability
Environmental impact is a key priority for our global customers. We are excited to see growing momentum around implementing sustainability-focused solutions, which we introduced last year as a category in our Technology for Good Awards. 

Our Sustainability Customer Awards recognize customers with new and innovative solutions to accelerate sustainability within their own organizations and drive meaningful climate action. The winning team from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation—who used Google Cloud tools like BigQuery to implement the mobile monitoring of air quality and greenhouse gas emissions—shows one inspiring way this can be done.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In an era when technology and data are reshaping the world, customers who won our DEI Customer Awards distinguished themselves for their commitment to using cloud tools to promote economic mobility and representation for historically underrepresented communities. The organizations below, and their partners, are leveraging the power of data and AI to transform and strengthen representation, progression, retention, and the inclusion of underserved or underrepresented groups in their organizations. By making a difference to their communities, they’re also leading the way for other organizations to drive for a more equitable world.

Social Impact 
The Social Impact Customer Award winners made a positive impact with technology projects that cultivated inclusion, openness, and community support. In a time of economic and climate uncertainty, these customers used Google Cloud solutions to create positive change at the scale the world critically needs. From government agencies encouraging public input on transportation planning, to supermarkets partnering with food banks, we applaud them for the work they are doing to improve their communities.

Talent Transformation 
When it comes to fostering digital skills for all employees, some of the world’s most recognizable brands are leading the way. This includes our Talent Transformation Customer Award winners like General Motors, DataLab, and EFX, who are empowering their workforces with hands-on learning opportunities to boost their technology skills. With the country facing a critical gap in technological capabilities, this kind of work is important to not only drive long-term business success, but also improve the lives and careers of employees.

Industry Customer Awards

Communications and Service Providers (CSP)
With our CSP Customer Awards, we are proud to recognize leading companies in the telecommunications sector who are finding new ways to improve customer experience. Whether it’s leveraging Google Cloud tools like Dataflow to process millions of real-time records every hour, or using BigQuery to assess performance and optimize data, these winners are getting creative with the cloud to scale and meet the needs of their customers.

Cross-Industry 
Customers in the Cross-Industry category demonstrated innovation across multiple verticals. One of this year’s winners, cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, built its cloud-first security platform, ADEM (Autonomous Digital Experience Management), on Google Cloud. ADEM is a digital experience management platform that helps Palo Alto customers proactively monitor and manage infrastructure, system, and application issues. ADEM has increased security visibility across networks, applications, and devices, ultimately reducing ticket escalations by 46%.

Education 
With schools racing to adapt to new ways of learning, winners of our Education Customer Awards are using cloud technologies to make education accessible. This year, educational institutions like FMU in Brazil are using Google Cloud to exponentially increase the number of students they are able to reach, while the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego unlocked entirely new areas of scientific enquiry by mining its data more efficiently. Both institutions demonstrated what a dramatic impact cloud technology can have on the world of learning.

Financial Services
We received hundreds of entries in every geography around the world for the Financial Services Award category, reflecting the high standard of business excellence in this industry. Financial services firms who won these awards undertook a number of successful projects, ranging from launching new apps and features to take customers’ experiences to the next level, to leading complex migrations and business transformations, to using automation to strengthen security.

Government 
Government organizations often ask themselves the same question: How can we better serve our citizens? It’s this people-centric mindset, combined with using data-driven  solutions and secure cloud platforms that enabled these Government Award winners  to accomplish their missions this year. More than ever before, governments are turning to cloud technologies to collaborate internally and with their citizens to support the people they serve in a more agile and helpful way.

Healthcare & Life Sciences 
Healthcare is a sector that creates extraordinary levels of innovation, and our Healthcare & Live Sciences Customer Award -winner showed how far it can push scientific boundaries. COTA is working with Google Cloud to transform the raw, unstructured data in electronic health records into a usable format that is driving a new era of data-driven cancer care. Google Cloud is proud to partner with COTA, who is saving lives by speeding up medical breakthroughs.

Manufacturing 
Manufacturers, particularly in the automotive vertical, are undergoing a sea change to more climate-focused solutions. A good example is our Manufacturing Customer Award winner, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), who is digitally transforming by investing in vehicle electrification and advanced autonomous driving. JLR has used Google Cloud solutions to help it understand and manage supply chain shortages in critical EV components, such as semiconductor chips, so that it can continue to deliver electric vehicles to a growing list of customers.

Media & Entertainment
By using cloud technologies, including AI/ML, data analytics, and more, our Media & Entertainment Award winners are modernizing content production and reinventing audience experiences with engaging and personalized insights. Combined with AI-infrastructure like TPUs, customers like Kakao Mobility can greatly accelerate ML insights at lower costs. Creating a more meaningful connection with viewers is one of this industry’s fundamental goals, and these customers are achieving it.

Retail
Our Retail Customer Award winners are facing a shopping world that has shifted from ecommerce (during the pandemic) to today’s omnichannel reality. By using the cloud to enable enhanced and seamless services, businesses like Carrefour Belgium, FairPrice Group, and Schnucks Markets are delighting their customers with highly personalized online and in-person shopping experiences made possible by cloud AI.

Supply Chain & Logistics
Innovation is critical in the supply chain and logistics sector. One of our Customer Award winners, the Finnish accounting software firm Snowfox, is taking advantage of the serverless nature of Google Cloud to automate the processes of its clients’ invoices. Snowfox has gone even further by setting up Carbonfox, which uses AI to calculate its customers’ carbon emissions—proving that supply chain and sustainability can go hand-in-hand.

What connects these Google Cloud customers? They’re all building new ways forward with the cloud—whether it’s improving access to education, personalizing their customers’ experiences, or saving lives. We’re proud to serve customers in more than 200 countries and territories, and we’ll continue to help them forge new ways with ground-breaking technology, industry expertise, and relentless optimism. Discover today how customers are transforming their business through Google Cloud.

Google Cloud is dedicated to providing developers and technical practitioners with the resources you need to shape the future of technology for all experience levels. One way we are doing this is by creating a more comprehensive developer experience amongst our community programs. 

Together, the Google Cloud Innovators program and the Google Cloud Community are partnering to create a one-stop shop to better support your needs with learning and growing in the cloud.

As an Innovator, you’ll have exclusive access to live events with Googlers, weekly digests of the latest Google Cloud news, and free learning credits for Google Cloud Skills Boost labs and learning content. While in the Google Cloud Community, you can also connect with peers globally to find answers, collaborate, and work together to solve your toughest challenges.

With this new partnership, we aim to make it even easier to find information, connect with your peers, and attend live sessions around the clock. and get the help you need from our team of experts.. 

Here are a few of the key benefits you can expect from this partnership:

1. Enhanced user experience with verified status

As an Innovator you will now receive a verified status icon on your Google Cloud community profile. This will help you stand out  and take the guesswork out of networking with your peers and finding experts. The new verification also unlocks exclusive events and resources as you soar through the community ranks.

2. Personalized learning opportunities, exclusive live talks, and resources

We’ve tripled the number of live events, providing you with more opportunities to learn and gain hands-on experience in a time zone that works for you. These live events are curated with your experience level in mind, ensuring you find the right sessions to meet your goals.

3. Recent Google Cloud product news right in your inbox, weekly

Access The Overwhelmed Person’s Guide to Google Cloud, a weekly newsletter with latest information from across Google Cloud written just for Innovators. Helping you navigate all that’s happening in the cloud and help you take action on your learning quickly. 

4. Be recognized for your contributions

Going forward, your Community forum activity, contributions to the knowledge base, or when you’re participating or leading a Community event will be recognized. This enhanced visibility leads to custom rewards and opportunities to help you reach your goals even faster with Google Cloud. 

Kickstart your journey today

Whether you’re just starting on your dev journey or just wanting to enhance your skills with top-of-the-line tools and learning paths, our new unified developer experience offers you the community you need for a strong foundation — no rubber ducks needed.

Join Innovators and discover how you can leverage our communities to take your developer learning and growth to the next level. Visit our shared booth in the Innovators Hive at Google Cloud Next to learn more about this initiative from our community teams.