How can technology help us detect beaver burrows in the wild and assess their associated risks to public and private interests?

Description

Beavers are a protected species. However their burrowing sometimes causes us problems. Burrows have been associated with breaching of flood banking and water impoundments, undermining of infrastructure and collapse of sections of riverbank, impacting on businesses and livelihoods. Entrances to beaver burrows are usually dug below water, which can make detection difficult. A non-invasive method needs to be developed in order to both reliably detect potentially problematic burrows and assess the risk the burrow presents to infrastructure and people . A successful method will help anticipate the risk of problems arising from burrows, allowing targeted mitigation to help us live alongside beavers. Please visit our website for information on CivTech and how to get involved: https://www.civtech.scot/how-to-apply https://www.civtech.scot/selection-process CivTech’s mission is to drive daring and innovation in the public sector by collaboratively solving Challenges that make people’s lives better – and in doing so create generations of sustainable, high growth businesses. CivTech brings together public sector expertise and private sector innovation to solve real problems, develop new products, and deliver better, faster and easier services for everyone. Central to the approach is co-production with the citizen. Part of the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate, CivTech’s approach is helping transform public sector engagement with tech and innovation, delivering significant benefits to public services, producing genuine uplifts for the Scottish economy - and along the way, making lives better. Across the country there are problems public sector organisations would like to solve and in the current environment the need for smart, efficient and effective products has never been greater. The Scottish Government is aware innovation is a good way to create them and is committed to ensuring a large part of its tech spend goes to smaller, innovative businesses. This is where CivTech comes in. The CivTech Innovation Flow is designed to create products as quickly and effectively as possible, and uses a true Accelerator model at the heart of its Innovation Flow model. For you – whether you’re an individual, team or company – it’s an opportunity to take on a Challenge , solve it, and win contracts with a blue-chip public sector organisation. You’ll build a product, and a business to take it as far as possible. Because here’s the kicker: the Challenges we issue aren’t ‘single organisation’ problems – most exist worldwide. In short: Open Challenges are set. Any organisation, team or individual can respond. Applications are assessed, and shortlisted proposals go into an Exploration Stage which runs from the 15th of August to the 2nd of September 2022, where they are then developed further [and for which participating applicants are paid]. The best go through to the Accelerator – a period of intensive work to create the solution, and through CivTech’s unique business workshop system, a business capable of taking the product to the world. The Accelerator Stage will run from the 3rd of October 2022 to the 28th of January 2023. Please visit our website for information on CivTech and how to get involved: https://www.civtech.scot/how-to-apply https://www.civtech.scot/selection-process