# Announcing the winners of the WILDLABS Awards 2026 > Source: > Published: 2026-07-07 09:00:00+00:00 # Announcing the winners of the WILDLABS Awards 2026 What does the future of conservation technology look like? Today, it’s more exciting and diverse than ever. Indigenous-led bioacoustic monitoring in the Peruvian Amazon, AI running directly on field devices, satellite tags making sea turtle tracking more accessible, and new tools to protect Humboldt penguins, pangolins, giraffes, insects, and marine wildlife from threats that are often difficult to see. All these conservation innovations and many more are recognized in the WILDLABS Awards 2026, a collaborative initiative between WILDLABS and Arm that supports innovators who are developing, adopting, and scaling technology for real-world conservation impact. Today, July 7, 2026, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the awards, with $360,000 being distributed across 16 conservation technology projects. Many of these innovations are built using Arm-based technologies due to the power efficiency, scalability, and ability to run AI and data processing directly on devices operating in remote environments. “For me, what’s fascinating is the breadth of the projects,” said Rosalie Tribe, senior manager of Social Impact and Innovation at Arm and a judge for this year’s awards. “It’s not just about the most exciting piece of technology. It’s also about where existing technologies can be adopted and adapted for conservation purposes.” ## The 2026 WILDLABS Awards winners Arm is funding 16 of the projects this year, including eleven awards of $10,000 and five awards of $50,000. The awards are open to innovators across the conservation technology space, from those developing new tools to those applying existing technologies in new conservation contexts. The $50,000 grant recipients include: - From scent to seizure: Standardizing air sampling for canine detection of marine wildlife trafficking. - A3EM: An open toolkit for animal-borne adaptive acoustic ecological monitoring. - Completing the adaptive management loop using Eye in the Sky. - Scaling non-invasive AI monitoring to safeguard endangered Humboldt penguins in Peru. - Arm-based island-scale tracking network for small-scale fisheries and sea turtle coexistence. The $10,000 grant recipients include: - Open-source bioacoustic classifiers for Western Amazonian restoration, built with Shuar women. - Assessment of freshwater fish biodiversity along large altitudinal gradients of tropical forest streams using an eDNA metabarcoding approach. - Cost-effective satellite tagging of sea turtles using Arribada Initiative tags. - Testing solar power on an automated insect monitoring system for scalable deployment in the ‘Paraná Atlantic Forest. - AudioMoth Edge: Field-ready on-device sound recognition. - Edge AI bioacoustics: A hardware-aware optimization framework for invasive species detection. - Bespoke tracking technologies for advancing pangolin ecology research. - Años luz: Open biologging tag software. - Indigenous-led bioacoustic monitoring for biodiversity conservation and local value generation in Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park, Peru. - A scalable intelligence hub for giraffe conservation and other wildlife. - Using passive acoustic recording units to determine cape parrot presence and habitat use in Limpopo To learn more about these projects, read the [WILDLABS announcement](https://wildlabs.net/en/article/announcing-wildlabs-awards-2026-grantees). ## Supporting conservation technology at every stage The 2026 program received a record-breaking 523 applications — more than double last year’s total of 251. Following an initial review by the WILDLABS team, 30 applicants were shortlisted for the $10,000 grants and 22 shortlisted for the $50,000 grants before final judging. “This year’s response shows that we are tapping into a real need in the sector,” said Adrien Pajot, project manager at WILDLABS. “We saw high-quality projects coming from everywhere in the world and across all three areas we set out to support: technology adoption, innovation, and closing the gap between early-stage development and implementation.” This year’s judging panel included 16 experts from across the conservation technology sector, reflecting a diverse range of genders, nationalities, and specializations. The panel included Arm representatives Ed Miller, Julie Moorad, and Rosalie Tribe. Judges assessed applications based on the quality of the proposal, team capacity, feasibility, contribution to the wider conservation technology sector, and potential for real conservation impact. ## Technology trends across this year’s cohort Applications reflected the growing maturity and diversity of the conservation technology sector. Judges saw strong projects across technology adoption, innovation, and usability and scaling, with momentum around bioacoustics, edge AI, open source tools, eDNA, biologging, satellite tracking, and remote monitoring. “One of the strongest themes we saw this year was passive acoustics,” said Ed Miller, software director at Arm. “A lot of projects are using devices with microphones in the field, capturing what is happening in the environment, and using that data to understand wildlife presence, human disturbance, or other ecological signals.” Ed also highlighted the growing importance of running AI directly on field devices. “In the near term, what excites me is the ability to get more AI models running directly on devices,” he said. “That kind of intelligence on device, combined with better connectivity, can start giving conservationists more timely data and quicker insights into what is changing in the environment.” For Talia Speaker, executive manager at WILDLABS, the 2026 cohort also demonstrates how rapidly bioacoustics is becoming a dominant tool in conservation technology. “Bioacoustics is definitely a big trend,” she said. “We’re seeing projects combine affordable acoustic sensors, AI, and local knowledge in really powerful ways — from Indigenous women identifying bird sounds to open source tools that other projects can adapt.” ## Building shared value for the sector** ** A key priority for the WILDLABS Awards is not only supporting individual projects, but strengthening the wider conservation technology ecosystem. Applicants were encouraged to consider how their work could generate shared value through open source tools, documentation, reusable models, community resources, and scalable approaches. “We ask people to think not just about their project and the impact they are having in one landscape, but about the benefit to the broader sector,” said Talia. “How can they create open source models that others can adapt? How can they produce documentation that serves the whole community? That shared benefit is one of the criteria we pay attention to most.” This approach reflects a broader challenge in conservation technology: promising tools often struggle to move beyond pilots because of limited funding, coordination, and capacity, a pattern also highlighted in the WILDLABS [State of Conservation Technology 2026 report](https://wildlabs.net/en/state-of-conservation-technology-5-years). Through the WILDLABS Awards, WILDLABS and Arm aim to address that gap by combining funding with access to a global network of conservation technologists and technical expertisefrom Arm engineers. “With Arm, we’ve been able to develop a model where there is funding, but also connection to a broad global network through WILDLABS and access to world-leading engineers,” said Talia. “You can’t just provide funding without support, and you can’t provide support without recognizing that resources are required.” ## Congratulations to the 2026 winners We are deeply grateful to every team that applied to the WILDLABS Awards 2026. The quality of applications reflects the creativity and ambition of the global conservation technology community. And congratulations to all 16 winning teams. We look forward to following progress and seeing how these projects help advance conservation technology for the benefit of wildlife, people, and ecosystems around the world. 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