The four million dollars cryptocurrency coin will be used to establish the Shiba Inu OSINT Initiative. The cryptocurrency is from Buterin’s Balvi Filantropic Fund.

UNSW’s Kirby Institute managed the funding.

The crypto gift, which has been converted to $5.3 million, will support the development of Epiwatch, an open-source intelligence tool developed by Kirby Institute professor Raina MacIntyre to provide pandemic early warning signals.

Epitwatch development began in 2016 and is underpinned by research and testing.

It makes use of open-source data and artificial intelligence to create early warnings. The tool works by scanning millions of items of publicly available online data, such as social media and news reports, for early signs of epidemics.

It uses vast amounts of data in real time to detect changes to what is considered normal reports about health concerns. UNSW says this is much quicker than waiting for formal reporting through doctors and laboratories.

Epitwatch does not replace formal reporting, but provides earlier warnings of epidemics that can be formally investigated by health authorities.

The gift will allow the team at UNSW’s Kirby Institute, spearheaded by Prof. MacIntyre, Biosecurity Research Program head, to make Epiwatch accessible to low-and middle income countries.

“Imagine if someone had detected COVID-19 before it spread around the world – that is our vision,” said professor MacIntyre.

“Using AI and real-time open-source data, Epiwatch does not depend on people making reports. It is a great equaliser and can overcome weak health systems and censorship.”

The OSINT tool has been developed from grants contributed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

The Shiba Inu OSINT Initiative will enable Epiwatch to be used in low and middle-income countries where MacIntyre says it is needed most.

“To be most effective, it needs to be accessible in local languages and used widely at the grass roots level down to villages and small towns around the world. This will give us the best prospect of preventing pandemics,” says MacIntyre.

“The earlier we can detect new epidemics as they come, the more quickly we can start developing treatments or even stop them before they become large. Open analysis of public data is an excellent alternative to more intrusive forms of monitoring, which are also often only available to governments and other high bidders but closed to the public,” Buterin says.

“By contrast, an open source and open access approach that allows researchers, including members of the public, to work collaboratively across the world can be more easily improved and scaled to detect new pandemics wherever they begin.”

Buterin has already made significant philanthropic contributions for social impact, including to improve the COVID response in India (India Crypto Relief Fund) and to support Ukrainian relief.

“We have seen the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world in the past two years. By making Epitwatch accessible in lower income countries, the Shiba Inu OSINT Initiative has the potential to avert future world crises like pandemics. It’s a powerful opportunity to drive meaningful social change and far better health outcomes, not just for the people in those countries but for everyone globally,” concludes UNSW Sydney vice chancellor and president Attila Brungs.