Date: 14 October 2020
Contact Information
Email: enquiries+agritech@quantfoundry.com
LinkedIn page: Quant Foundry on LinkedIn
Quant Foundry announces a new venture applying artificial intelligence to identify sick livestock
Quant Foundry Limited (QF) are excited to announce the start of a new research and commercial feasibility program with our academic and research partners University of Bristol and Agri-EPI Centre co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, UK Research an Innovation under the “Transforming food production challenge”. We will be using novel artificial intelligence methods combined with behavioural analytics to provide rapid and reliable insights to animal health for farmers across the UK and eventually the rest of the World.
The team headed by Dr Chris Cormack at QF will be running a feasibility study with Prof Andrew Dowsey of the University of Bristol, a specialist in computer vision solutions in agriculture, and Agri-Epi at their South West Dairy Development Centre in Somerset headed by Duncan Forbes. A successful outcome will provide a new cost-effective solution for farmers and vets to identify illness in livestock providing not only cost savings but also a means to reduce the impact of farming on the environment.
Dr Chris Cormack says “In conjunction with our research partners, the University of Bristol and Agri-Epi, the study of behavioural analytics in animals will open up a new era in artificial intelligence driven solutions for farmers. We have great hopes that not only can we help farmers provide improved care for their livestock but also help reduce their economic costs and their environmental impact.”
Throughout this project we will be actively seeking out partners to help us commercialise and build our capability as the project matures, this can range from direct investment to interested companies looking to complement their existing activities in this upcoming area.
If you are curious let us know you wouldn’t be the only one!
Quant Foundry
Since its inception in 2018 Quant Foundry has specialised in developing Innovative solutions in artificial intelligence and finance. Quant Foundry has made a commitment to building solutions that help reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and to help understand and manage the risks of climate change. Quant Foundry is actively engaged with several academic institutions including Imperial College, University of Bristol, Sussex and other universities in England and Wales where QF is driving forward ideas and capabilities in the new areas of climate risk and AI applications.
University of Bristol Veterinary School
The Bristol Veterinary School is situated at a dedicated site on the edge of the rural Mendips. Our 105-hectare estate is home to state-of-the-art facilities that are ideal for our researchers conducting a large variety of research activity. In the Bristol Veterinary School, their academics are leaders in their field, whose research helps inform national policies that can lead to developments within veterinary practice.
Agri-EPI Centre
Agri-EPI Centre is accelerating the adoption of precision agriculture and engineering technologies to boost productivity across the whole agri-food chain. It does this by exploring how to optimise performance of highly complex agricultural production and processing systems. The Centre provides world-class R&D facilities, connects academia and industry, and progresses next generation technologies such as sensing, imaging and robotics to create a new understanding of production efficiency. Agri-EPI works with 28 ‘satellite’ farms across the UK where new technologies and techniques are researched, developed, trialled, and shared in commercial farm settings. The South West Dairy Development Centre (SWDDC) is a state-of-the-art, 180-cow dairy unit in Somerset. The Centre provides a truly innovative environment for the development, testing and demonstration of new technologies and techniques to support sustainable, efficient, and high health and welfare milk production. www.agri-epicentre.com
Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. They connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation for more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org