Two technological demonstration videos have been released by FORSAID, an EU-funded project dedicated to innovating the management of forest pests and pathogens. Specifically, the initiative is oriented towards the early detection and monitoring of 10 target species that include insects, fungi and nematodes regulated at the European level. For almost two years now, FORSAID’s consortium (incorporating 17 partner institutions from 10 countries) has been working towards a new standard for containing the spread of these biotic stressors via novel solutions that prioritise speed, efficiency and accuracy.
As part of this effort, the aforementioned videos were produced to showcase some of the technologies at the heart of the project in action. Both were shot on site during the first annual meeting of the consortium, which took place in the Portugese city of Carcavelos in September 2025. In this context, FORSAID’s own experts not only personally presented the devices’ functionalities, but also laid out the background necessitating the innovations being pursued.
The Entomoscope, a photomicroscope for capturing small objects in great detail, was the subject of the first released demonstration. Its showcase was facilitated by project partners from the University of Padua (UNIPD) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Their work on the device as part of FORSAID involved the training of artificial intelligence models with standardised photographs of insects. Harnessing the Entomoscope in this manner is meant to enable greater selectivity in the automated identification of forest pests, thus increasing the efficiency of recognition and sorting on the ground. In particular, the researchers afforded attention to two insect species, the bronze birch borer (Agrilus anxius) and the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis). In addition to the video’s release on the FORSAID YouTube channel, the findings on this specific use of the Entomoscope are showcased in a dedicated scientific paper and а policy brief.
A second instalment of the video series was unveiled shortly thereafter, zeroing in on automated traps targeting the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) and the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea). Beyond the severe defoliation that they bring about, these species are also known to threaten human health. Looking into approaches for addressing these issues, FORSAID scientists from CEF (the Forest Research Centre of the University of Lisbon’s School of Agriculture) have begun exploring trapping solutions, particularly as these pertain to nocturnal male specimens. The goal in this regard is a more time- and cost-effective method driven by automation.
Pursuing this vision has involved a close collaboration with EFOS, a Slovenian company and consortium member specialising in pest management systems. Consequently, a device from their Trapview line has been used in a comparison with a conventional trap to determine the former’s efficacy in containing specimens as well as its suitability for wider deployment. The primary advantage offered by this novel solution is the minimisation of regular visits for maintenance, observation and data collection that are traditionally required. As explained in the video, this is facilitated by the compilation of a daily photography batch capturing the trapped insects that is digitally received by researchers. The full demonstration is available on YouTube as well.
You can find out more about FORSAID and the technologies being developed as part of its implementation on the project’s official website.