Satellite Applications for Animal Welfare Management - Tackling the welfare of all creatures.

22nd January 2021

Space technology is rapidly transforming the welfare of animals. The location, behaviour and health of household pets, farm animals and wildlife on land sea and air can today all be tagged, tracked and monitored remotely using a combination of sensors, satellite positioning and ubiquitous communications networks. In recent years the cost of deploying small, so-called ‘new-space’ satellites has plummeted, while the availability of very high-quality, often free-to-access, Earth observational (EO) images and data continues to accelerate. This provides new opportunities to gather and eventually automate sophisticated, near real-time data on the welfare of all living species and habitats from a planetary level down to an individual field and creature.

The Enterprise M3 region encompasses West Surrey and much of Hampshire and is home to a rapidly emerging Animal Health sector, including the Pirbright Institute and the University of Surrey’s School of Veterinary Medicine. The region also supports a vibrant Space sector, with 180 space organisations employing over 3,000 people generating £9.7bn in turnover, supplemented with academic expertise in the development, launch and deployment of small satellites and the skills to analyse and interpret the vast amount of information they gather about our planet.

This event represents the first of its kind in bringing together these key sectors to showcase some of their latest developments and to explore opportunities for collaboration. It is expected that innovation in both sectors of our economy will benefit from deeper cross-sector linkages, and thus we look forward to welcoming delegates from innovative SMEs and larger, established companies, as well as government and academia.

Agenda:

10.00 INTRODUCTION — Kathy Slack OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise M3 LEP

10.05 PANEL 1 — CAPABILITIES AND CHALLENGES

(Elaine Kearney, Innovation Director, Oxford Innovation)

• "New Space' and satellite capabilities - Earth-i

• Key challenges in Animal Health - Sharon Brookes,Animal & Zoonotic Diseases Animal Plant Health Agency

• Current research on Animal Health - Alex Cook, Professor of Vet Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Surrey

• Using remote sensing to monitor key animal feed supplies - Jon Pierre, Chief Business Officer, Mantle Labs Ltd.

10.25 Q&A

10.40 Funding for Agri-tech - Lucy Mather, Knowledge Transfer Manager - Livestock & Aquaculture, KTN

10.45 PANEL 2 — APPLICATIONS

(Jamie Mackay, Skills Strategy Manager, Enterprise M3 LEP )

• Enabling collaborative R&D in Agri-Tech – the South West Dairy Centre - Kasi McReddie, Business Development Manager – Livestock & Aquaculture, AgriEPI

• Spatial data and the epidemiology of vector-borne diseases - Marion England, Post-doctoral Research Scientist, Pirbright Institute

• The Internet of Agriculture - Maria Kalama, Business Development Director, Lacuna Space Ltd

• Keeping up with the Kuchid; tracking migratory routes in Afghanistan - Madeleine Alston, Senior GIS Technician , Alcis Holdings Ltd.

11.05 Q&A

11.20 CLOSING REMARKS AND NEXT STEPS - Enterprise M3 LEP

11.25 CLOSE