Ten years ago, we couldn't have imagined how tools like machine learning, eDNA, and satellites would advance and transform conservation work. Now technology is advancing faster than ever, and as tools become smaller, lighter, and more affordable, it's vital to have a space where community members can discuss the next big thing, share ideas, compare tool options, and tell the story of their experiences - positive, negative, and anything in between - while using new technologies.
In 2021, the WILDLABS State of Conservation Tech report detailed what tools show the most promise according to community members, as well as what tools are currently seen as the most effective. And as new tools enter the field, we're excited to see how this data will change over time, and how this group grows over time as well.
Our State of Conservation Tech research also discusses something called the "Hype Cycle" - the pattern that occurs when a new technology bursts onto the scene, promises to be an exciting solution, encounters challenges as new users adopt the tool and put it into practice beyond just theory, and eventually settles into its most effective state as users acquire the right skills to use it to its actual potential. Machine learning, one of the most promising technologies, is currently in the middle of its own hype cycle, and we see community members working through their own hurdles to incorporate ML into their work effectively. Despite what you may think, this Hype Cycle can also be positive for tech development, as it means that users have big ideas for new tools, and with the right resources and skills, they can work toward bringing those ideas to life. And as our community members experiences the Hype Cycle for various tools at their own paces, we hope this group will also serve as a place to discuss that process and overcome hurdles together.
Ready to discover new possibilities? Join our Emerging Tech group now and get to know your forward-thinking conservation tech peers!
Header photo: Internet of Elephants
No showcases have been added to this group yet.
- @lvgliarose
- | she/her
Bat Conservation Trust
Research Manager at Bat Conservation Trust
- 0 Resources
- 8 Discussions
- 12 Groups
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 6 Groups
- @sehuebner
- | she/her
Wildlife Ecologist and Program Manager at the Smithsonian Institution
- 0 Resources
- 3 Discussions
- 9 Groups
I have mixed experiences from 20+ years doing SATCOM and other IT roles with the US Army. I also have 4 years experience working in the marine environment doing forage fish spawning research. My goal is to advance my abilities in AI to bring into the realm of wildlife research.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 5 Groups
- @diego_ellis_soto
- | he/him
University of California & California Academy of Sciences
Biodiversity |Technology | Socio-Ecological Systems | Wildlife Ecology | Remote Sensing | Conservation | K12STEM-education | Music | diegoellissoto.org
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 20 Groups
- @Alawa
- | She/Her
Passionate wildlife and biodiversity conservationist
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @mattaudette
- | he, him, his
Software Tester and Test Automator at Wildlife Protection Solutions
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 24 Groups
- @tmcgrath
- | He / Him
Geographer, Program Manager, Engineering Manager
- 0 Resources
- 1 Discussions
- 11 Groups
- @kricherds
- | she/her
Technologist. Civic Science Fellow & Data Inclusion Specialist at OEDP.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 14 Groups
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
- 0 Resources
- 2 Discussions
- 8 Groups
- @KiaraHaylock
- | She/Her
PhD in Animal Ecology and Behavioural Physiology. Interested in the movement, behavioural and physiological responses of animals to environmental variability.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 13 Groups
20+ years traveler and management consultant turned tech founder and conservationist. Founder & CEO of ZAMBEZI ZERØ; super intelligence to safeguard biodiversity.
- 0 Resources
- 0 Discussions
- 15 Groups
Funding
Roddenberry Foundation’s Catalyst Fund
Roddenberry Foundation
Apply now for $2,500–$15,000 USD grants for early-stage ideas or projects that address global challenges.
4 October 2022
Link
'The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.' - https://twitter.com/NaturePortfolio/status/1574863768714100738?s=20&t=...
29 September 2022
Article
The planet matters. People matter. Location matters.
Floor van Dam
This paper released by the World Economic Forum and the SPACES coalition shows how businesses can embrace the use of spatial intelligence for action on nature and climate. How can we make sure businesses apply the...
23 September 2022
Careers
This role will be employed under Osa Conservation's Movement Ecology Program. Broadly, the project aims to develop and use novel animal tracking technology to increase our understanding of the movement ecology of...
22 September 2022
Link
Listen to Tanya Berger-Wolf's conversation about AI for Wildlife Conservation and imageomics with Lauren Burke on the Women In Analytics After Hours Podcast.
21 September 2022
Funding
Explore BOEM data, build analytic tools, and recommend solutions for sea turtle relocation trawling approaches to reduce incidental risk. Prize: $40,000
21 September 2022
Article
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize Winners
Stephanie O'Donnell
From an invasive reptile trapping system to a nucleic acid barcode that identifies poached and trafficked wildlife products anywhere in the world, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Theodore Roosevelt (TR) Genius...
21 September 2022
Funding
Amazon Sustainability call for proposals — Fall 2022
Stephanie O'Donnell
Amazon Sustainability is welcoming proposals related to climate risk/resilience, life cycle assessment, circular strategies, and more. Selected PIs receive unrestricted funds, no more than $80,000 USD on average
20 September 2022
Article
Collecting Critically Endangered Plants on Cliffs using a Drone
Guillaume Charron
This technology was recently tested in Kauai, Hawaii, with the National Tropical Botanical Garden and has successfully collected from 5 critically endangered species that were otherwise inaccessible.
16 September 2022
Careers
Senior Innovation Officer, EPA
Stephanie O'Donnell
This Senior-Level (SL) position is located in the Office of Research and Development (ORD), Office of Science Advisor, Policy and Engagement (OSAPE). The location will be determined after a selection has been made...
14 September 2022
Article
Mara Predators Hackathon
Alessandro Mazzi
APPLY NOW! The Sovereign Nature Initiative has partnered with the Kenya Wildlife Trust to experiment with emerging technologies to support their predators' conservation work.Challenges will focus on:1. Lion...
30 August 2022
Careers
Conservation Technology Research Internship
Meredith Palmer
Boost cons tech capacity at an international NGO! Fauna & Flora International is offering a paid three-month internship to consolidate and share best practices for the application of emerging hardware and software...
26 August 2022
August 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
September 2025
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
event
Louisa Richmond-Coggan
March 2026
September 2024
event
Vanesa Reyes
event
Vanesa Reyes
| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I'd be ecstatic if a nest box or natural tree hollow (or burrow) monitoring device could be developed. Infrared images/video and sound recording, either triggered by motion... |
+1
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Emerging Tech | 2 years 10 months ago | |
| Thanks so much!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Animal Movement, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Geospatial, Software Development | 2 years 10 months ago | |
| I don't think KEH would influence accelerometry at all.One other way to think about it is - the KEH is a movement sensor itself.The GPS is quite a severe factor in the energy... |
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Animal Movement, Emerging Tech, Sensors | 2 years 11 months ago | |
| Any results coming out of this survey that you would like to share? |
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Community Base, Emerging Tech | 3 years ago | |
| We’re so excited to see what comes of the growing discussions on sustainability started throughout our community. As the WILD... |
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Emerging Tech | 3 years 1 month ago | |
| Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir. |
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Drones, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech | 3 years 1 month ago | |
| Dear Community,Together with Hackster.io, Seeed Studio is very happy to jointly organize “IoT Into the Wild Contest for Sustainable Plant... |
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AI for Conservation, Connectivity, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors | 3 years 2 months ago | |
| A bit opposite of what you're looking for but according to this, the share of non-NFC enabled phones was 10% in 2020. They don't state their source unless you pay, but I suspect... |
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Animal Movement, Emerging Tech | 3 years 2 months ago | |
| Job description WPS seeks a game developer to work with our videography team and existing library of wildlife 360 video content to... |
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Emerging Tech | 3 years 6 months ago | |
| That's pretty cool Can you send us the info at contact@natural-solutions.eu happy to help |
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Emerging Tech | 4 years 1 month ago | |
| Dear Zoe, I wonder whether FIT would be good for species-level (rather than individual level) identification of small mammals. We use track tunnels to get prints of dormice (3... |
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AI for Conservation, Emerging Tech | 4 years 9 months ago | |
| I only know Internet of Elephants! Have you heard about them? I think their new competitor is Google, have you seen? https://9to5google.com/2020/07/10/google-3d-animals-list... |
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Emerging Tech | 5 years ago |
Roddenberry Foundation’s Catalyst Fund
4 October 2022 11:13am
New paper: Battery-free wireless imaging of underwater environments
29 September 2022 3:22pm
Battery-free wireless imaging of underwater environments | Nature Communications
Imaging underwater environments is of great importance to marine sciences, sustainability, climatology, defense, robotics, geology, space exploration, and food security. Despite advances in underwater imaging, most of the ocean and marine organisms remain unobserved and undiscovered. Existing methods for underwater imaging are unsuitable for scalable, long-term, in situ observations because they require tethering for power and communication. Here we describe underwater backscatter imaging, a method for scalable, real-time wireless imaging of underwater environments using fully-submerged battery-free cameras. The cameras power up from harvested acoustic energy, capture color images using ultra-low-power active illumination and a monochrome image sensor, and communicate wirelessly at net-zero-power via acoustic backscatter. We demonstrate wireless battery-free imaging of animals, plants, pollutants, and localization tags in enclosed and open-water environments. The method’s self-sustaining nature makes it desirable for massive, continuous, and long-term ocean deployments with many applications including marine life discovery, submarine surveillance, and underwater climate change monitoring. The authors present an approach to underwater imaging, which does not require tethering or batteries. The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.
Conservation Tech Directory - new update!
29 August 2022 2:38pm
26 September 2022 10:07pm
Thanks so much!!
The planet matters. People matter. Location matters.
23 September 2022 12:16pm
Movement Ecology Field Team and Data Coordinator: Osa Conservation [Open until filled)
22 September 2022 11:55pm
Workshop: Building UK Partnerships for Conservation Technology
22 September 2022 3:02pm
WIA After Hours: Episode #5 - AI for Wildlife Conservation and Imageomics with Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
21 September 2022 6:53pm
WIA After Hours: Season : Episode #5 - AI for Wildlife Conservation and Imageomics with Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
WIA After Hours: Season : Episode #5 - AI for Wildlife Conservation and Imageomics with Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf
HeroX Challenge: Better Call Trawl
21 September 2022 6:50pm
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize Winners
21 September 2022 6:30pm
Amazon Sustainability call for proposals — Fall 2022
20 September 2022 11:37am
Collecting Critically Endangered Plants on Cliffs using a Drone
16 September 2022 7:49pm
Data Beyond Borders Symposium
15 September 2022 12:35pm
Senior Innovation Officer, EPA
14 September 2022 1:23pm
Crypto funding for ecosystem and conservation science
8 September 2022 1:48pm
Virtual fencing / Kinetic energy harvesting / Holistic grazing
16 June 2022 7:12am
26 July 2022 11:13am
Hi,
One daily fix is planned for now. This will be challenging enough for KEH :)
Kr, D-
31 July 2022 5:15pm
I see, thanks!
One daily fix is quite limiting.
Do you have an idea how KEH might affect accelerometry?
Cheers,
2 September 2022 11:05am
I don't think KEH would influence accelerometry at all.
One other way to think about it is - the KEH is a movement sensor itself.
The GPS is quite a severe factor in the energy balance of the system, so if the data is perhaps not transmitted constantly, more frequent locks could be achieved. I believe GPS transceivers are becoming more and more efficient and the KEH enabled GPS should become an option soon.
Kr,
D-
Mara Predators Hackathon
30 August 2022 1:28pm
Conservation Technology Research Internship
26 August 2022 4:58pm
Online Hackathon: Predators conservation in the Maasai Mara
22 August 2022 10:32am
Ceres Wild Rhino application
22 August 2022 1:29am
29 September 2022 4:05am
Lead Software Engineer for ARISE
19 August 2022 8:22am
Post Doctoral researcher - DNA species detection technology
15 August 2022 4:50pm
Lead Software Engineer, Wildlife Insights
10 August 2022 11:06pm
Technology may solve climate change problems, but it’s also causing them | VentureBeat
8 August 2022 11:26am
Technology may solve climate change problems, but it’s also causing them | VentureBeat
It’s time for tech leaders to address the sector’s sustainability challenges by questioning supply and demand before it's too late.
Survey: The role and applicability of block-chain technology in conservation survey
3 August 2022 3:28pm
Any results coming out of this survey that you would like to share?
Research Associate
29 July 2022 9:34pm
CERES TAG
22 July 2022 3:36am
2022 EarthRanger User Conference
20 July 2022 9:08pm
Earth Species Project - Senior AI Research Scientist
15 July 2022 6:40pm
Fast Company Feature: Smart Parks
14 July 2022 4:19pm
23 September 2022 5:26pm
Congrats on the milestone Carly and Gracie!