A South African-born project tackling one of AI’s biggest blind spots (nature) has just taken home an international award!
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland (28 January 2026) – Project ZOA (Zoological Open Architecture) has earned the Startup Innovation Award for Top AI Sustainability Project at Davos Innovation Week during the World Economic Forum.
Founded in the Garden Route and presented in Davos by founder Douglas Eriksen, the project is built around the fact that AI is increasingly used to guide decisions about land use, infrastructure, finance, and development, yet it often doesn’t include reliable environmental information.
“We are living through an unprecedented era of technological change,” shares Eriksen. “Artificial intelligence is reshaping how decisions are made. But when those systems do not understand nature, the consequences can be serious.”
Project ZOA aims to change that by turning real, verified observations of wildlife and ecosystems into structured data that AI systems can understand, compare and use. Essentially, it helps AI factor biodiversity into decision-making.
“We’re transforming biodiversity monitoring from analog field notes into machine-readable intelligence. This creates the baseline measurements we’ll need to track ecological change in an AI-transformed world,” shares Eriksen.
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The initiative is a partnership between technology company Zindalo, Wits Enterprise – the research commercialisation arm of the University of the Witwatersrand – and Cango Wildlife.
Erikson is the CEO of Cango, which focuses on endangered species conservation and the practical application of technology in conservation work.
“Cango Wildlife focuses on endangered species conservation and the practical application of technology in conservation work. It serves as the zoological infrastructure anchor for Project ZOA’s data collection and verification systems,” shares Cango WIldlife.
The project was presented to a panel of global policymakers and technology investors at the largest World Economic Forum gathering to date!
By giving AI access to accurate, real-world biodiversity data, Project ZOA can help protect sensitive ecosystems and support more informed development decisions. It puts South African conservation efforts on a global stage and shows how technology can be used to support nature, not overlook it.
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