Intelligent Pest Control – a first-line defence system against rats’ infestation

Project Information

IPC

Grant agreement ID: 854640

DOI

10.3030/854640

Project closed

EC signature date 31 January 2019

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SENSORA
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IPC (Intelligent Pest Control – a first-line defence system against rats’ infestation)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Seen from an end-customer perspective, current pest control manual practices are expensive and of low efficiency, as rats’ activity may be detected with many days or months of delay – with consequences for the rat proliferation. With Rat1, the pest control company can react instantly on rat activity and thereby hinder proliferation of rats. Pests, particularly rats, represent a real risk for public health due to their ability to carry and spread many human pathogens. Moreover, pests’ infestations are also costly for several businesses and sector, which can be closed for weeks. The fact that pest control is an essential part of Good Manufacturing Practice in sectors such as food and pharmaceutical segments from a hygiene, economic and regulatory point of view, creates a need for a better and more effective pest monitoring system.
The overall objective of the project was to assess the technological feasibility and production conditions for market demand for Rat1 system. In addition, we wanted to identify key requirements to be addressed in Phase 2, with focus on the cost benefit analysis of Rat1 and design a solid route-to-market leveraged by a strong stakeholder network.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The purpose of the feasibility study was to identify challenges and address requirements for the large market uptake of Rat1. The study included three main dimensions:
1. Technical Feasibility Assessment – main outputs: product design matured, and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis completed;
2. Business Planning – main outputs: a) establishment of a market entry roadmap for product deployment and scalability; b) further definition and characterization of the market positioning of Rat1 and competitive landscape and c) outline of the regulatory requirements.
3. Innovation Project Planning – main outputs: a) design of the work plan to be implemented during the Phase 2 in order to overcome the identified market barriers and b) end-user interest for Phase 2 demonstrations were obtained from our wide network with stakeholders and value chain players successfully established.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The study has demonstrated strong indications that Rat1 will meet the recurrent market needs for a solution that is, at the same time, cost-effective, capable of monitoring several boxes at the same time with highly efficiency – fulfilling the strict requirements for food and pharmaceutical segments. Rat1 will be capable of mitigating risks and consequent costs caused by non-effective manual pest control, which do not decrease and control the risk of pest infestation. The Phase 2 activities will be key implement crucial market maturation activities thereby facilitating wide international growth.
Rat1 will contribute to minimize the socio-economic costs of poor pest control by providing an effective online and real-time pest monitoring, thus improving efficiency and reduce (virtually to zero) the risks of proliferation of rodents in surrounding of industrial areas, at identical costs for companies.

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