WILDLABS

About

WILDLABS is your doorway into the vibrant, global conservation technology sector. 

When WILDLABS first launched in 2015, we set an ambitious goal for ourselves: uniting the largest community of conservation tech users and makers in the world. Together, they would collaborate, learn, and innovate solutions to the many challenges facing our natural world. Every programme, partnership, and step forward that we’ve taken in these past years have made that goal a reality, and today, over 7,600 community members from around the world now call WILDLABS home. 

The depth and breadth of knowledge found here in the WILDLABS community is unparalleled, and we’re honored to provide the meeting point for so many experts and innovative thinkers who are working on every continent and in every environment. 

Whether through virtual and in-person events geared toward forging lasting professional connections, sparking innovative ideas and learning crucial skills, groundbreaking research into the present and future state of our field, innovative funding opportunities, and much more, WILDLABS is proud to translate all we’ve learned from our expansive global community into resources that can make conservation technology more effective, accessible, and impactful.

“There’s much more to it than just learning one new skill and going on your way. It really is about this network of trading ideas and skills, and finding where everyone fits into the bigger picture.” 

Carly Batist 

Purpose

Technology is shaping the world of tomorrow. With huge challenges like wildlife crime and poaching, climate change, deforestation driving extinction and threatening ecosystems around the world, it’s more important than ever for conservationists to have access to the tools, resources, and networks needed to rise to those challenges.

  • Our Vision: A world in which the conservation sector benefits fully from modern tech innovations that are accessible, affordable and effective.
  • Our Mission: To unite the conservation technology community to maximize the benefits of cross-sector innovation for conservation impact.
  • Our Values: 'Community first' is our guiding principle and everything we do is grounded in what our community tells us it needs. In simple terms, we believe it is better to do it together instead of alone. Coordinating efforts takes time and resources, but when we help our community speak with a collective voice and articulate shared needs, we can unlock partnerships and resourcing that is bigger and more impactful than what we can do individually

 

Our Approach

We catalyze the conservation technology sector by bringing people together, understanding their needs, and directing resources from across sectors to address shared challenges and realize collective opportunities. 

WILDLABS has three key programmatic areas: 

  1. Community: We bring the global conservation tech community together and make information discoverable
  2. Research: We identify the community's most pressing needs
  3. Resourcing: We form strategic partnerships to unlock cross-sector resources to answer collective needs

The WILDLABS platform and its key programmes are designed with conservation tech users and makers in mind. Using our community-based research as a guide, WILDLABS aims to create a space where questions can be answered, ideas can turn into collaborative projects, and innovations can turn into solutions. By understanding where conservation technology is headed, what barriers community members face in effectively leveraging technology, and how technology can improve, WILDLABS can form partnerships and design programmes that address the community's needs and lift their work to a new level. 

Our global community of conservation technology makers is collaborative, innovative, and supportive. By uniting this wide and diverse network of experts with every type of technology imaginable to study and protect a huge range of species and environments on every continent, WILDLABS provides the platform and programmes needed to help this powerful community shape the future of our field. 

Learn More

To learn more about our community and upcoming programmes, read our latest Annual Report, check out this recent feature, and watch this community call: 

 

Site Header image (Turtle): Turtle image: 'Para descifrar “los años perdidos” de las tortugas carey (Eretmochelys imbricata) liberamos a este neonato con un transmisor satelital. Lo bautizamos con el nombre de Julián en honor a un biólogo de siete años y medio. Suerte Julián, llévanos a descubrir!' (Equilibrio Azul / www.equilibrioazul.org)