nib repurposes digital billboards to power medical research in new work via Dentsu Creative

Australian health insurer nib has teamed up with Dentsu Creative, Folding@home, and Alliance Outdoor to repurpose the untapped computing power of digital billboards for vital medical research.

Most digital billboards only utilise half of their CPU’s processing power. In a world-first initiative, nib is harnessing that spare capacity by installing Folding@home software onto the mini computers embedded within billboards across New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. The program will run complex medical simulations focused on cancer and Alzheimer’s research, feeding critical data back to scientists in the United States.

Folding@home, originally developed at the University of Pennsylvania, is a distributed computing project that enlists volunteer devices to help researchers better understand diseases such as breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, and even COVID-19. The program simulates how proteins fold and interact at an atomic level—an essential process in developing new treatments.

By tapping into the power of Australia’s outdoor advertising network, nib and its partners are turning passive digital infrastructure into an active contributor to global medical research. The innovative use of billboards could provide scientists with valuable insights, accelerating progress toward potential breakthroughs.

This initiative demonstrates the potential for advertising technology to serve a greater purpose beyond brand messaging—proving that even the most unexpected sources can play a role in advancing science.

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