Ecogoggle joins as partner in the cross-border Art-IE project

Noord-Brabant-based deeptech startup Ecogoggle joined as the second incoming partner in the Art-IE project on 29 September 2025. The project, headquartered in Kortrijk, focuses on the application of artificial intelligence at small and medium-sized enterprises and promotes cross-border collaboration in that field.

Ecogoggle combines drone imagery, camera data and AI to provide insights to provinces, policymakers and land managers. Within Art-IE, the company is developing an AI species scanner designed to automate the manual inventory of plant species along roadside verges.

What Art-IE offers Ecogoggle

The Art-IE project enables Ecogoggle to collaborate with partners that have expertise in AI robotics and federated learning. Both technologies are relevant to two concrete challenges the company faces: adaptive camera control and the coordination of multiple devices or data systems in the field.

Federated learning makes it possible to train models without sending all data to a single central server. This can be relevant when multiple land managers or provinces supply data but are unwilling or unable to store it centrally. Adaptive camera control refers to a system's ability to automatically determine, based on previous imagery, where and how the camera can best be deployed.

The intended end product is a demonstration model that allows policymakers and managers to monitor biodiversity at greater scale and at lower cost than manual field surveys permit.

Earlier work as the foundation for the species scanner

Ecogoggle has already completed a number of projects on which the current development builds. Together with the province of Drenthe and flora organisation FLORON, the company previously conducted a pilot in which 80 kilometres of roadside verge were analysed for plant species. The province of Zuid-Holland engaged the company to map the invasive Himalayan balsam in the Biesbosch.

In addition, Ecogoggle worked on a flowering arch application for Naturalis Biodiversity Center and maintains collaborative relationships with Wageningen University & Research, the Hogere Agrarische School, Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten for ecological knowledge and validation.

For 2025, the company has set an internal target of providing an annual trend update for 25 percent of Dutch Natura 2000 sites. Whether and to what extent the Art-IE collaboration contributes to that goal cannot be determined on the basis of the available source material.

The team behind Ecogoggle

Ecogoggle is based in De Mortel, Noord-Brabant, and consists of a small team. Director Michiel Groenemeijer focuses on machine learning and big data and is involved in building prototypes. Rachel van der Sman, project manager and microbiologist by training, maintains oversight and manages contact with external partners. Stef Gootzen serves as UX designer and developer.

The company positions itself at the intersection of ecology and data technology, with satellite and drone data as the primary sources for the analyses it delivers to government bodies and land managers.

Broader context in the Dutch and European ecosystem

Ecogoggle's entry into Art-IE illustrates a pattern that recurs across the Dutch deeptech scene: small, specialised companies use European partnerships to access knowledge and capacity they do not have in-house. For a startup of Ecogoggle's size, a project such as Art-IE, with its cross-border composition, offers a way to address technological bottlenecks without having to invest in extensive R&D infrastructure of its own.

For investors and policymakers looking at applications of AI in the management of public space and nature areas, verge management is a concrete and scalable domain. Provinces and municipalities are legally required to monitor their roadside verges for flora, but rarely have the capacity to do so systematically and cost-efficiently. Whether a demonstration model developed through Art-IE ultimately leads to broader deployment depends on the practical validation carried out within the project.