discussion / Wildlife Crime  / 7 February 2019

Tech Hub open call: Tech to end wildlife crime

Hey all,

We're very excited today to open applications for the WILDLABS Tech Hub. The Tech Hub will offer a 3 month programme to support tech for wildlife solutions aimed at tackling the illegal wildlife trade. We're working with some amazing folks across the Foreign Commonwealth Office, Digital Catapult, Satellite Applications Catapult, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services.

You can find more information in the announcement post here: https://wildlabs.net/tech-hub-open-call
 

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask in the thread below!

PS. We'd really appreciate your help in spreading the word. If you're a tweeter, the tweet from @wildlabsnet can be found here.




Hello Joe

The application document states that this is for "‘almost there’ sustainable solutions". I am not quite there yet (still working on a prototype at the moment) but could -without a doubt- greatly benefit from some of the offerings, such as contact with wildlife conservation organisations.

I hope to make contact with those and individual conservationists via this forum (planned to start next week) but a more formal contact would be equally useful.

Should I apply via the application form anyway or is there another better way to get in touch for "not yet 'almost there'" solutions ?

Joachim

Hey Joachim,

Thanks so much for your question! If it won't take up too much of your time, I'd definitely encourage you to apply anyway. Alternatively, if you wanted to chat about what you're working on before making an application, feel free to drop me a private message and we can work out a time to talk :)
 

Hi Joe, I’m quite glad to hear of your open call for tech solutions to fight wildlife crime but I am stuck on one piece. The programme description suggests the startup should have a business plan. This confuses me a wee bit. Of course I understand the need for economic sustainability for the solution to be viable through time however, we aren’t looking at business solutions for murder, stopping murder is a public good. Why should wildlife crime be any different? Can you give an example of a real business plan of how a wildlife crime fighting tech startup succeeded?

Thank you,

NB

Thanks for the wonderful answer to Nik's query, Joachim! I think you covered everything, but to put a cap on it: for our good to make a long term impact, it has to survive the long term. That means we'll have to have a plan for long-term sustainability. That doesn't necessarily mean selling expensive licenses, but it does mean knowing your costs, and having an idea of how you'll offset them. Hence a business plan.