Supporting our biosecurity system to manage risk through innovation

Written by the compliance division

We’re proud to be able to support our biosecurity system to manage risk through innovation, and to be able to fund projects which will help us manage biosecurity risk smarter in the future.

Two projects funded through our Biosecurity Innovation Program have been nominated for innovation awards.

Last week the 3D x-ray technology and algorithm project was announced as one of the 12 finalists in Australia’s 2020 Public Sector Innovation Awards digital and data category. This project is a ground-breaking trial by using 3D x-ray technology and is a world first algorithm to automatically detect biosecurity risk. This is inclusive of materials including fruit, meat and seafood. This project has the potential to improve the rates of early detection of biosecurity pests and diseases. Further details can be seen on the IPAA website.

The second nomination is the Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence used for the detection of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) project.It has been nominated for the CSIRO 2020 Digital, National Facilities and Collections Awards under the Breakthrough Innovation category. The project is a proof of concept to determine whether a mobile phone app could be used to identify BMSB from other similar stink bugs. The app uses Microsoft Azure’s Computer Vision and the results of the feasibility study are extremely promising.

We look forward to sharing the outcome with you shortly.