AutoMonIn - Autonomous Monitoring of marine Invasive species
Purpose and aim
The challenge driving this project is the development of a sustainable strategy to significantly limit the spread of marine invasive species. Today invasive specie s are the main threat to biodiversity. The suggested solution is an early warning system for invasive species based on DNA- methods, tailor-made to find species on alert-lists. Shipping is the large st vector for spread of invasive species why ports and fairways are optimal for monitoring. Early detection is crucial in aquatic environments where mitigation else might be come very costly or even impossible.
Expected effects and results
The aim of the project is to enable transition from the traditional manual monitoring methods to the newly developed and coming methods based on automation and DNA-technique . The expected results are rapid response and early warning of invasive species. Further the results will enable a flexible monitoring, with high capacity which is well equipped to meet changing environments and upcoming threats.
Planned disposition and conduction
Within this project we will develop a roadmap for Autonomous monitoring of invasive species in collaboration with authorities, industry and academia. The project targets early detection of invasive species through DNA-based methods and autonomous transfer of data. The data flow will rapidly reach from sensor of detection to decision makers. This project is an “initiation” or step-1-project in Vinnova’s programme Challenge Driven Innovation. Next step is to apply for a “collaboration project” or step-2-project in the same programme, with up to 10 MSEK from Vinnova.
General
- Coordinator: Chalmers University of Technology
- Contact: Lena Granhag (lena.granhag@chalmers.se)
- Partners: SeAnalytics AB, University of Gothenburg, Research Institutes of Sweden
- Funding: 400 kSEK (40 kEUR) from Vinnova (Sweden’s Innovation Agency), Challenge Driven Innovation
- Duration: April 2019 – January 2020
