Project description
GPS trackers to keep bees safe
Good news for beekeepers struggling to protect their hives from theft or vandalism: the EU-funded BeeSafe project is hatching a plan to protect this billion euro industry. It is developing a smart anti-theft system with AI-based service software to protect beehives. This new system is based on a GPS tracker that reports unusual movement (i.e. theft or vandalism). A patent-pending technology enables the anti-theft system to operate in zero energy mode until theft or vandalism starts to take place. Field-tested AI compares unusual movement with past user patterns and mitigates false alarms. The project aims to supply this plug-and-protect solution to 0.5 % of the EU’s 8.1 million beehives within the next 5 years.
Objective
Apiculture (Beekeeping) is a billion Euros industry. According to the European Commission, 650,000 beekeepers in the EU generate an annual value added of 1.4 billion Euros, with their 18 million beehives. More importantly apiculture contributes to a total amount of at least 24 billion Euros delivered by pollination to EU agriculture. Successful apiculture attracts beehive theft and vandalism.
We are developing a disruptive, scalable, smart anti-theft system with AI-based service software to protect beehives. The innovative system is based on a GPS-tracker that reports unusual movement (=theft or vandalism) identified by our AI-software. GPS-trackers are nothing new. They are hardly never used for beekeeping though as a result of their unsatisfactory user interface (SIM cards have to be purchased with tariff independently, the provided software is often not compatible and/or user friendly). Besides the GPS-trackers are unreliable in their performance (short battery times and frequent false alarms) and do not detect vandalism, since the beehives location is not changed.
With BeeSafe we are developing a different product. Intelligent, protected (patent pending) technology enables our anti-theft system to operate in zero-energy-mode until theft or vandalism occurs. Field tested AI compares unusual movement with past user patterns and mitigates false alarms. Smart services include SIM cards, access to a service platform that will manage alarms and contact the responsible authorities in the future. We create a new market by providing a plug-and-protect solution at greatly reduced production- and environmental costs due to dramatically reduced battery sizes.
We aim to supply 0.5% of EU beehives with our anti-theft product within the next 5 years. Given a total of 18 million beehives in the EU we are planning to sell 90,000 products that generate a total revenue of 8.1 million Euros and create 20 new jobs over the next 5 years.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
95448 Bayreuth
Germany
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.