Solution: Capgemini collaborated with Naturalis, the National Research Institute for Biodiversity based in the Netherlands, and with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch the latest edition of the Global Data Science Challenge (GDSC) and create a new AI model that can identify insects with ~92%* accuracy.

https://www.capgemini.com/news/client-stories/protecting-biodiversity-by-listening-to-insects/

“To this point, we’ve seen much less focus committed to protecting insects than other conservation efforts,” explains Elaine van Ommen Kloeke, Naturalis. “While all of these initiatives are important and worthy, it’s critical that we better understand the changes, either positive or negative, that various insect species have experienced in recent years. That starts with being able to effectively track and identify as many as possible.”

Enter Arise, a collaboration between Naturalis, the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam, the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, and the University of Twente. This initiative aims to enable recognition of any naturally occurring species in any location based on DNA, sensor and AI technology. Furthermore, it will collect biodiversity information related to all species from across the Netherlands into one place by 2030, after which a vast amount of data will become readily available with only a click. In doing so, the project will make it far easier for conservationists to track insect populations.

“We can’t always see or hear insects and there are so many species out there, so it’s quite difficult to monitor them,” says Dan Stowell, Naturalis. “And without knowing where those populations are and their numbers, they’re incredibly hard to protect. So, we’ve been using machine learning to identify insects based on audio recordings. However, it’s a work in progress. Automatic recognition of human speech took decades to become as good as it is, and for insects we need the accuracy of automatic identification to catch up as much as possible to make it ready for deployment.”

Exploring different machine learning options
With their expertise, available data, and AI knowledge, Naturalis was the perfect candidate for the 2023 Global Data Science Challenge (GDSC), a collaborative hackathon event hosted annually by Capgemini and powered by AWS machine learning (ML) services, such as Amazon Sagemaker, wherein every employee throughout the company is given the opportunity to develop and harness their data and AI expertise to solve a real-world issue.

“As a global leader in data and AI, Capgemini has a responsibility to apply its expertise to real-world scenarios that can help create a more sustainable world and drive tangible benefits for our society,”said Niraj Parihar, CEO of the Insights & Data Global Business Line at Capgemini and Member of the Group Executive Committee. “Through our Global Data Science Challenge, we empower our team members to solve real world challenges of vital importance to us all. Insects play a central role in our ecosystem but are incredibly hard for humans to monitor. Listening to and identifying insect species is critical to preserving them.”

Throughout the event, more than 1500 participants formed over 400 teams, after which they were given the resources to develop and test their own solutions. By learning from five hours of recordings of 66 different insect species, each team attempted to build an AI that can identify which species could be heard.

The AI solution was developed as part of Capgemini’s sixth Global Data Science Challenge for a sustainable future, an annual initiative whereby employees are given the opportunity to harness their data and AI expertise to solve a real-world issue. For this year’s challenge, teams from Capgemini collaborated with Naturalis—the National Research Institute for Biodiversity based in the Netherlands—f

Read more at: https://www.bqprime.com/technology/capgeminis-new-ai-model-helps-protect-biodiversity-by-listening-to-insects

Recording of the September Townhall of ARISE! Experience the end to end workflow for image recognition, e.g. how many geese are in the field - From sensor to species ID. And how to get involved in the national challenge to get a DNA barcode for all 45k species in the Netherlands. We make this work through the great data infrastructure of ARISE, state of the art protocols and cool services anyone can use to measure biodiversity.

Our last update for 2021, closing an exiting year in which ARISE really started. Have a look to find out what we achieved over the apst few months and what we have in store for 2022.

What has ARISE been up to the past few months and how can you be a part of it's evolution?

From June to September we've been busy getting ARISE operational, going Agile and taking the first steps to start building the core components. Join us to hear more!

The program is as follows:
* Introduction & ARISE strategy
* Short presentations per Team
* Open discussion & feedback

The Townhall will be recorded and shared online.