Deadline: 9 January 2019
National Geographic is seeking proposals from around the world that will advance breakthrough technologies to scale National Geographic’s efforts to explore, visualize, understand, and ultimately protect the planet.
The goal of this RFP is to create novel tools and technologies to monitor ecosystem health. In the same way that human health is monitored in real time (e.g., thermometer, MRI, blood pressure), environmental diagnostic monitoring techniques are needed to provide practical measurements correlated with ecosystem health. Because of the complexity and interconnectedness of global environmental systems, scalability is crucial for global monitoring.
Examples of the types of tools that could be employed are new processing techniques for satellite data, advanced wildlife camera traps, or globally networked chemical and physical sensors.
National Geographic supports the development of cutting-edge technologies that open our eyes to different viewpoints, help us see the world in a new light and explore it in new ways, and transform the fields of exploration, science, and conservation.
Priorities Area
Priority will be given to projects that use technology to do one or more of the following:
- Develop tools or capabilities needed to generate data and insights on ecosystem health, biodiversity distribution, patterns, and trends
- Create or reimagine sensing modalities that can be applied to determine ecological health
- Implement new processing techniques that can apply breakthroughs in data mining and machine learning to glean new ecosystem health insights from existing data streams
- Develop low-cost, scalable, long-term, robust in-situ or remote sensing modalities
Funding Information
- Typical proposal requests should be less than $50,000; however, applicants may request up to $150,000.
- Up to 20 percent of the total can be used as a stipend for the applicant and/or team members.
- Up to 15 percent can be used for institutional overhead (applicable only for awarded grants of at least $50,000).
How to Apply
- Applications must be submitted online via given website.
- They do not accept mailed or emailed applications.
- All application materials must be in English.
For more information, please visit Conservation Technologies.