The Wild Incubator Tech Program
India’s unique biodiversity faces specific conservation challenges, necessitating the development of innovative, technology-driven solutions tailored to its distinct environmental and socio-economic contexts. There is a history of usage of technology for the conservation of biodiversity in India by leading scientists and organizations, however, most of the technologies have been imported and these technologies were not created with Indian Wildlife Protected Areas in mind.
Through Wild Incubator Tech Program we will be providing a small grant to NGOs working on innovative technologies focussed on addressing current wildlife science and conservation challenges. The broad technologies can be IOT, AI, Open Data, Satellite Imaging, GIS and Remote Sensing etc.
India’s wildlife conservation landscape is currently facing two significant issues.
First, there is a lack of technology-driven solutions that are specifically tailored to the unique challenges of India’s diverse ecosystems. The country’s rich biodiversity, spanning from the dense forests of the Western Ghats, to the arid landscapes of the Thar Desert and mountain regions of Ladakh, presents a wide array of conservation challenges. These challenges require specialized technological interventions that are not just effective but also contextually relevant. Moreover, the multitude of challenges like wildlife poaching and trade, human-wildlife conflict, connectivity being severed and the growing intensity of forest fires need innovative and deployable technology solutions.
Second and more important, there is a notable gap in the scalability of pilot projects. Numerous innovative ideas, hackathons and pilot projects in wildlife technology emerge, but they often struggle to progress beyond the initial stages. This lack of scalability limits their potential impact, leaving many promising technologies underutilized and unable to contribute significantly to conservation efforts.
The Wildlife Incubator Tech is designed to address this gap of Indian innovation and the scalability of solutions. By focusing on the development of India-specific technological solutions, the incubator will foster innovations that are directly aligned with the unique conservation needs of India’s diverse habitats.
2024-25 Wild Incubator Tech Winners
Monitoring the Wild Vultures with Satellite Tagging in Assam
‘Poison bait’ has become a looming threat to the vulture population in the brahmaputra flood plains. This project focuses on three vulture species and aims to gather comprehensive knowledge into their feeding and migration patterns,namely, the Himalayan vulture, the White-rumped vulture, and the Slender-billed vulture.
This project uses solar powered GSM transmitters and satellite tagging technology to monitor the vulture population in Assam. Information collected will be used to steer data-driven conservation practices and will be hosted on web-GIS dashboard to raise awareness.
Remote Sensing and Machine Learning-Based Detection of Floating Offshore Plastic Debris in Coastal Goa
While famous for its beaches the rich Goan marine biodiversity is endangered by the sheer amount of plastic waste that this small state produces. There has been a surge in ocean pollution as improper waste disposal methods continue to be practiced.
To alleviate this stress from marine life WWF India has designed a remote sensing and machine learning based software which identifies and maps floating off-shore plastic debris. Sentinel-2 images will be used to aid the identification process and the information gathered will be hosted on a user-friendly real time open source Web-GIS platform. This information will be crucial in taking timely action and identifying pollution hotspots.
Digitisation of Bird Ringing Data
Since 1959 BNHS has collected bird research data from over 2 million tagged birds, however the handwritten format in which the data currently exists poses challenges. This data is crucial to understanding avian behavior and designing effective conservation projects.
This project team is developing an AI-based solution to accurately transcribe data which currently resides in over 40, 000 handwritten sheets; data collected post 2015 from various BNHS sites will also be consolidated onto the database. The aim is to create a repository of cleaned and validated records migratory data to aid research and conservation efforts.
Grant Award
The top five submissions will receive a grant award of ₹20,00,000 each for a period of one year (FY 2024-25).
Each project will receive an additional ₹4,00,000/- (Rupees Four Lakhs) for equipment purchase.
For any questions about the program, please write to wildincubator@cwsindia.org
Supported By
Ashraya Hastha Trust is a charitable foundation that advances ideas and supports organisations to promote a better, more equal world. For 20+ years, they have supported efforts to advance healthcare and education for all, preserve the environment, strengthen opportunities for livelihoods, champion animal welfare, and make philanthropy more effective to better serve historically marginalised communities.
