Buzzwatch

Help the bees, but with AI! 

For everybody who thought technology and nature didn’t rhyme with innovation: discover Buzzwatch! 

The bees are dying, and we cannot do anything about it? False! An Artificial Intelligence solution can support the colonies and help them survive. How? By matching the bee population with the supply of nectar-producing plants! Yes, because even if there are different theories about why bees are dying, one thing is sure: they need easy access to food in order to survive and, in the case of the domestic bee, produce honey. 

Mapping the demand of bee populations and the supply of nectar-producing plants to assist hungry colonies is a job for AI! Based on aerial images, the data is inserted into the solution, which can generate advice on where to place the beehives while simultaneously mapping the impact on solitary bee species. 

Citizen participation plays a vital role in this project. Motivated volunteers in Nijlen gather relevant data in the form of pictures. The data from the pictures is fed to the solution to make the algorithm performant and most efficient in its task: saving bees, now in Flanders, and later maybe in all of Europe. 

This simple but brilliant project has been rewarded with qualification into the finals of the Innovation in Politics Award 2024 and has appeared multiple times in the media making partners, citizens, and supporters finding their hive of success!