To achieve the main objective described in this MoU, the following specific objectives shall be accomplished:
Research Coordination
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The Action will identify pressing challenges for image-based insect AI early on and shape the research agenda over its 4 years to address existing bottlenecks (WG1-4).
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The Action will create opportunities for the side-by-side assessment of image collection technologies, AI models, and training datasets (WG1 & 2).
- The Action, by bringing together the key stakeholders in the image-based insect AI community, will build agreed data standards for image-based insect AI technologies (WG1-4) as legacy by the end of the Action.
- The Action will deliver a toolbox of analytical methods updated throughout the action (WG4) including combined analysis of image-based data and traditionally collected data, and integration with other technologies, such as acoustics, radar, and molecular methods.
- The Action will produce good practice guides to support the sustainable uptake of image-based insect AI technologies by the key stakeholders and the scientific community to understand and counteract widespread insect declines (WG1- 4) and which will be widely disseminated by the end of the Action.
Capacity Building
- The Action will bring together stakeholders (from the national government to local community groups) and technologists to ensure societies’ needs are at the center of the research agenda (WG1), in a co-creation practice to be promoted throughout the entire Action.
- The Action will build a programme of knowledge exchange that will support innovation and capacity building around image-based insect AI technologies (WG1-4) to be implemented early on and promoted during the whole Action.
- The Action will ensure inclusiveness to its activities and within the Core Group, with a target of 50:50 gender balance, 50% young researchers and innovators (YRIs), and >50% participation from ITC countries, promoting collaborative activities and mentoring support where needed during its entire duration.