NZ Biosecurity Supreme Award Winners

Congratulations to TMBC members Xerra, who took out the New Zealand Biosecurity Supreme Award with their maritime intelligence project ‘Starboard’. The Starboard tool uses data and analytics to assess the biosecurity risk of every vessel entering New Zealand waters.

Xerra Earth Observation Institute’s Starboard tool is a maritime intelligence project which is able to detect hitchhiker pests. Starboard can assess the biosecurity risk of every ship or boat entering Aotearoa based on their vessel movements and port visits in the last 12 months, game-changing for marine biosecurity.

It’s a database of more than 16 billion ship positions worldwide. The team realised that the risk of a vessel bringing unwanted organisms to Aotearoa is strongly related to its past journey track and characteristics of travel.

By bringing together scientists, designers, engineers and end-users they are delivering a much-needed solution and improving marine biosecurity for New Zealand.

This year’s awards recognised the project’s impact and innovativeness for biosecurity, awarding Xerra the New Zealand Biosecurity Supreme Award in addition to the GIA Industry Award and the Mondiale VGL Innovation Award.