Public Funding for Pollinatework Ltd

How are the bees doing? And the butterflies? Hoverflies? Ladybirds? Wasps? **The U.K. hosts 1,500 species of insect pollinators**. They are beautiful. We need them to produce fruits and nuts. Flowering plants need them to survive. Birds and small mammals eat pollinators directly. Unfortunately, **many pollinating species are struggling**: There are fewer individuals and less diversity than just one or few decades ago. This is risky for our food security and our environment. We know these decreasing trends from long-term studies that count pollinators one or a few times a year. Building on long-standing traditions, the U.K. has the world's best data on pollinators, including through the government-supported Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, "PoMS." But because even PoMS can only count pollinators a few times a year, **we know very little**. What is the impact of a heatwave? A cold spell? The farmer applying a pesticide? A council or conservation organisation planting a wildflower corridor? Some species probably do better, and others do worse. One-off scientific studies have clarified the impacts of such events, but because pollinator counting is so rare, **we have been unable to understand what is really going on**. At Pollinatework, we created the Sensibee device, **enabling us to understand how all pollinators are at all times**. We want thousands of Sensibee devices deployed throughout the UK (and beyond). Policymakers, researchers, and members of the general public will then be able to truly understand how the pollinators are doing right now and what is needed for them to do better. Our **network of pollinator-sensing devices** will also be an early-warning system, enabling us to identify and help the species that are particularly under threat. InnovateUK is helping us develop **more reliable and lower-cost** Sensibee devices. They also support fundamental research at Kingston University that will leverage artificial intelligence to algorithms that help **identify individual pollinator species**. Integrating the data streams will enable us to know which pollinator species need help, and how we can help them. The improvements in understanding our nation's pollinators will help us to care for them better, ensure we have pollinators for our crops, and support our biodiversity.