XPrize Rainforest

Participation of the Brazilian team to XPrize Rainforest challenge

Duration : 2019 - 2024
Research program : Alana
Geographic extension : International

Website
Biodiversity monitoring
Autonomous sensor
Tropical forests
Deep learning

XPRIZE Rainforest is a global 5-year challenge that convenes innovators and experts across disciplines – from conservationists and Indigenous scientists to engineers and roboticists – and challenges them to use novel technologies to expedite the monitoring of tropical biodiversity.

Tropical rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth but our ability to fully assess them is restricted as they are so vast and complex. By deploying rapid and autonomous technology into the forest, researchers can gain near real-time insights about biodiversity – providing necessary data that can inform conservation action and policy, support sustainable bioeconomies, and empower Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are the primary stewards, protectors, and knowledge holders of the planet’s tropical rainforests.

The Brazilian Team has been built as a collaborative and multidisciplinary group of biologists, citizen-scientists, communication professionals, ecologists, economists, engineers (agronomists, data, electrical, forestry, mechanical, robotics), environmental managers,  informaticians, and mathematicians from Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, UK and USA. The Brazilian Team devote synergic efforts for improving the knowledge about plant and animal diversity in tropical rainforests worldwide. We use innovative technologies and solutions, carefully designed developed, and tested by us, for rapid and accurate biodiversity assessment, especially from remote or difficult to access geographic areas.

Our technologies and strategies have been applied during the XPRIZE Rainforest, a five-year competition, to enhance our global understanding of the rainforest ecosystem.  In August 2023, the Brazilian Team was announced as one of the 6 finalists of this competition, being the only team based in a tropical country and the only selected from the South Hemisphere.

PARTNERS

  • Inria-Zenith
  • University of São Paulo (USP), São Carlos, Brazil
  • UFSCar-CCN
  • ESALQ-USP