European Project to Improve the Health of Bees reaches Italy during the Beekeeping Trade Fair, Apime

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PRESS RELEASE

The Internet of Bees (IoBee), a project financed by the European Union to improve the health of bees, is resuming its tour around Europe and is now reaching Italy. The project is aiming to better listen to the opinions of Italian beekeepers and other stakeholders regarding technology in the sector, as well as their priorities to improve bee health. By presenting its objectives and developments in Apimell, one of the largest beekeeping events in Italy, IoBee is working to have a direct exchange with participants. The project seeks to offer new solutions to improve the monitoring of bees and their environment in Italy and the rest of Europe and has even started field tests of its monitoring systems in Calabria.

IoBee will participate in the international trade fair for apiary products and equipment, Apimell, on March 1, 2019, in Piacenza, Italy. In collaboration with organisers and the National Union of Italian Beekeepers Associations (UNAAPI), stakeholders such as beekeepers, equipment developers in the sector, decision-makers from associations and all those interested in the progress of applied technology to beekeeping will have the opportunity to get to know the project and provide their feedback.

A bee counter, element of the IoBee Monitoring System

IoBee aims to achieve unprecedented advancements to improve the health of bees. Thanks to the application of the Internet of Things (IoT), beekeepers will be able to monitor their hives with useful and timely information. Besides, by applying new technological developments, IoBee is opening the possibility of establishing the first European Network for the Comprehensive Health Management of Hives. Italy is one of the first places selected not only to develop the field tests but also to collect valuable information that serves in the goal of achieving comprehensive protection of bees and helping improve the quality of their environment.

IoBee focuses on two main points. First, to determine the health of the bees and the general condition of the colony. Each hive equipped with a monitoring system becomes a part of the IoBee online platform, thus creating an efficient monitoring network. This development will not only save costs and time in the beekeeping workforce but also reduce the stress factors for bees derived from manual checks. Second, to make a compilation of practical information, including satellite mapping and modelling, that alerts beekeepers about any threat to their hives. IoBee establishes new processes through cloud-based services, thus seeking to be an essential tool to help turn raw data into valuable information for beekeepers, associations, researchers and authorities. The project is providing the necessary tools to better listen to what their bees have to say.

User interface monitoring different parameters of the hive

The arrival of IoBee to Italy marks a new stage in the project and is proof of its commitment to offer beekeepers a solution tailored to their needs. The organisation of workshops and the beginning of the field tests in the country mark a milestone in the evolution of the project, seeking an improvement in the health of bees all around Europe.

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NOTE TO EDITORS:

IoBee is an EU-funded project that aims to disrupt the beekeeping market by providing practical, timely and easy-to-use monitoring systems. The project focuses on the commercialisation of a new monitoring application, applying technological developments of the Internet of Things (IoT), capable of automatically evaluating the health of the colonies and their threats, becoming the technical framework for an Open Interoperable Surveillance Network for the Health of the Bees.

IoBee aims to create a valuable resource for all stakeholders in the beekeeping sector. It will be able to do this because it functions as a diverse, international and inter-disciplinary consortium. Partners range from technological and technical consultants such as IRIDEON (Spain) and AVIA-GIS (Belgium), monitoring systems manufacturers and developers as ARNIA (UK), educational institutions as TEIC (Crete), to researchers and NGOs. The project also depends on the participation of BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination, through which beekeepers can show their support for the IoBee project, in hope of confronting the ongoing bee crisis.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 760342