Trials of ‘smart hive’ technology have enabled The World Bee Project to collect billions of data points about the health and activity of honey bees, for scientific research and conservation efforts.

Oracle and The World Bee Project are set to expand their partnership after trialling the use of cloud and internet of things (IoT) technology to better understand honey bee populations and the serious threats facing them.

During the Hive Network trial, which started in October 2018, Oracle helped fit bee hives in London, Reading and Tel Aviv, with sophisticated IoT devices that monitored their temperature, humidity, weight and acoustics.

These “smart hives” have allowed both beekeepers and researchers to more accurately understand the health and behaviour of bee colonies. The partnership’s expansion will see the project extend to 60 more locations – 30 to showcase the programme and another 30 specifically for scientific research, which will be the focus of the next phase.