In 2021, we introduced you to team BIOSTREAM and our vision for uniting as world-leading tech innovators to compete for the XPRIZE Rainforest. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we have been selected as one of fifteen finalists during the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos. This means we are now given the opportunity to validate BIOSTREAM’s solution to quantify the intrinsic value of rainforests rapidly, remotely and with unprecedented detail.

BIOSTREAM is a partnership between NatureMetrics, Dendra Systems, SYSTEMIQ Ltd. and global collaborators, committed to improving biodiversity data to communicate the wealth of the natural world and drive action.

Our innovative tech solution will rapidly and accurately measure the vast biodiversity of the rainforest using a combination of eDNA, portable labs, GIS, drone technology and robotics. BIOSTREAM’s unique data analysis capabilities integrate indigenous traditional knowledge and are accelerated with the power of AI, facilitating environmental monitoring at scale.

George Darrah, Principal at Systemiq Capital, says “There is no climate without nature. And nature’s power is built upon biodiversity. Reversing catastrophic declines in biodiversity needs our economic system to pivot from funding the destruction of biodiversity to powering its recovery. Dramatically increasing the availability of biodiversity data helps financiers, business leaders, policy makers and civil society leaders make the right decisions for nature. We therefore need to accelerate the deployment of biodiversity monitoring platforms at scale. This is why the XPRIZE Rainforest and BIOSTREAM are so important.”

Ineke Knot, Research Scientist at NatureMetrics, adds “We’re delighted with the opportunity to put our molecular knowledge to the test during the semifinals for the XPRIZE Rainforest, where we will be gathering high quality data at unprecedented speeds using our DNA and drone technologies”.

“We are humbled that BIOSTREAM has been selected as a semifinalist of the XPRIZE Rainforest. We look forward to demonstrating how technology and new methodologies can revolutionise our understanding of the planet’s most diverse and complex ecosystems” explains Elena Fernandez-Miranda, Data Ecologist lead at Dendra Systems.

You can learn more about this XPRIZE competition, including who the other semifinalists are, and follow the story to find out who will walk away with the prize purse of $10M, by visiting the XPRIZE website.