10020716Semi-Automated Traps for Insect Pest MonitoringClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKInsect pests cause serious damage to food crops thus threatening food security. Monitoring insect pests is vital to limit the damage they cause, however, it requires specialist knowledge to identify pests and intensive farm visits, which farmers can't afford to do. Recent developments in the use of computing technology and image analysis offer opportunities to develop traps for automated insect pest identification and quantification. The automated traps doesn't require manual expertise as insect data is stored on a computing system which helps to identify a specific insect. The technology uses cloud based internet technology thus does not require frequent field visits. We have recently developed a semi-automated tool which is capable of identifying thrips, which is a major insect of many crops. Our technology holds potential for developing similar tools for other insect pests. To make a better use of our technology, we need to test and optimize our traps in an agricultural country where product evaluation can be done under field conditions. We have selected Pakistan as it is not only a top ten agricultural country, but also represents an emerging market for our products and services. Cotton whitefly and mango fruitfly are two major insect pests in Pakistan upon which our technology can be implemented. This project aims at determining the feasibility of optimizing and further development of our technology to meet the demand from Pakistan's agricultural sector. The key objectives are to develop and strengthen the academic collaboration to support our research and development activities, identify growers for field trials and gain a better understanding of commercial and regulatory landscape in Pakistan. The success of the project will open new opportunities for new technology and business expansion in an emerging market.