The Dublin Bee8 Project

Smart Bee8 pilot project is set to cause a buzz

By Gugulethu Radebe

The Dublin Bee8 project has been causing quite the buzz in the Dublin 8 area. The project, in partnership with the Digital Hub, was founded by the Robert Emmet Community Development Project (CDP). The project was originally launched in 2019, stemming from the development of the inner-city beekeeping community project in 2016.

can be found atop the Pearse Lyons distillery, the GEC, the Digital Hub and Adam and Eve’s Church.

With the inner-city beekeeping community doing exceedingly well over the years, their success has influenced a new and innovative style to beekeeping. It has adopted a digital ‘smart’ method to beekeeping called the Smart Bee8 project. The project will build on the existing work done by the community in support of the wellbeing of honey bees. Smart Bee8 is set to be Ireland’s largest api ary this year.

The Executive Director of Robert Emmet CDP, Austin Campbell, had this to say about being part of the organisation:

The inner-city beekeeping community aims to preserve and protect the natural environment in the Dublin 8 area. With help from the local community, its mission is to aid in the monitoring of endangered honey bee species’ health.

Since being launched in 2016, the beekeeping community has created numerous employment opportunities and currently employs two people who are responsible for the upkeep of twelve hives.

They also deliver a 10-week beekeeping course for locals to educate them on the importance of honey bee preservation and hive upkeep.

Since 2016, the inner-city beekeeping community has created many bee hives which

“The organisation which operates Bee8, since 2019. Bee8 has grown a lot in the past three years. In that period, the project has gone from two hives in one location to 57 hives in twelve locations across the city.”

Smart Bee8 is working in collaboration with the Digital Hub in the development of these new smart hives. The smart hives are equipped with 20 sensors across four beehives to monitor key data from the bees such as temperature, hive weight, sound, humidity and overall bee activity. The data that is gathered and obtained from these monitors through the bees will provide useful information for the project team on the air quality, climate and pollution levels in the Dublin 8 area.

It is said that with the successful development of this new hive technology, as well as

“Smart Hives are still at a prototype stage. Smart Hives are essentially the exact same as a regular hive with small sensors installed. When Smart Hives have been tested over a period of approximately one year and funding has been sourced the plan is to install sensors in all Bee8 managed hives.” the data collected, future smart hives will be able to further examine and improve CO2 levels and air quality within the local area.

Community members are also being encouraged to attend workshops focusing on the importance of bees and educating them further on the new technology. A community engagement app will also be available to community members, enabling them to further get involved in the project and also showcasing live streams of beehive activity.

The Dublin Bee8 smart hive project has all the right factors and ingredients to be another success story, driving significant human and economic change. With luck, if this new initiative manages to take off, it will be applied on a global scale.