Crowdsourcing Marine Conservation Solutions: the Digital Makerspace

The Digital Makerspace is a platform where science, entrepreneurship, and technology communities come together to start projects and co-create tech-enabled solutions to marine conservation problems. In this demonstration, we... [ view full abstract ]

The Digital Makerspace is a platform where science, entrepreneurship, and technology communities come together to start projects and co-create tech-enabled solutions to marine conservation problems. In this demonstration, we show how crowdsourcing ideas and digital collaboration can change what is possible in the marine conservation space. The Digital Makerspace is a workshop, collaboration space, and project pipeline where ideas can be born, tested, and developed. The platform has supported late stage companies through a digital ocean conservation accelerator program, called Oceans X Labs, run in collaboration between Conservation X Labs and the World Wildlife Fund. As well as been the genesis of new tech-ideas and projects through prize competitions and ocean challenge competitions. Open innovation, collaboration across disciplines, and community engagement are key to generating world-changing ideas. The tool is designed to support projects that are born on the Digital Makerspace and help transform them into financially sustainable viable products that will address the drivers of extinction.