Press Conference and First Insights
The original post introduced the interdisciplinary research project Smart Monkey Lab at the Affenberg Landskron. Since then, the project has reached an important milestone: on March 21, 2024, the project was officially presented to the public at a press conference. Invited media representatives were given an on-site insight into the research objectives, the institutions involved and the planned technological innovations.
Smart Monkey Lab Team
Representatives included researchers from the Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna, experts from the SIENA research group at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, and the Affenberg park management team. Together, they outlined the vision of bridging empirical primate research with AI-driven monitoring technologies.
The project is part of the BRIDGE programme funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and runs from 2023 to 2026. Alongside local partners, international experts from Japan and the USA are involved. Professor Michael Huffman from Kyoto University describes the initiative as a unique bridge between fundamental behavioral research and state-of-the-art digital technology – with potential to advance both science and conservation efforts worldwide.
Upcoming project phases include further development of prototypes, field testing of drone technology, and validation of AI recognition algorithms. Regular updates on progress and interim results will follow.
The Smart Monkey Lab project is funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of the BRIDGE program (project no. 4639393, duration 2023-2026).
