In the news: Vogue features Xylo Systems as Vogue Codes Runner Up 2022

Article by Victoria Baker in Vogue on December 1 2022

Forward thinkers: Meet the new class of Vogue Codes Future Innovators

The Vogue Codes Future Innovators Award, presented by Optus and now in its second year, uncovers impressive young talent with bold new ideas about using tech to solve challenges in disability care, conservation, sustainability and inclusion. Meet winner this year’s finalists.

Camille Goldstone-Henry

Runner-up 2022 Future Innovators Award and co-founder of Xylo Systems, which is on a mission to turbocharge wildlife conservation with data and AI.

“Biodiversity is being lost at unprecedented rates globally,” says Camille Goldstone-Henry. “There are lots of organisations working to save our species, but they don’t have an easy way to make data-driven decisions.” Enter Xylo Systems, the AI-powered software platform Goldstone-Henry created with co-founder Jada Andersen after completing studies in animal and veterinary bioscience, and a stint at a non-profit conservation organisation. The platform aggregates data and provides analytics to help organisations make conservation decisions in a more efficient way. She explains that in a sector strapped for cash and often reliant on grants, organisations don’t have the time or budget to implement tech solutions, leading to duplicated efforts and a lack of shared data. “You’re not only losing time to save these species, you’re also starting to waste resources,” she says.

Goldstone-Henry, who is currently completing an MBA to upskill in areas outside her scientific comfort zone, says that after enrolling in technology and AI-related subjects, she realised that the same predictive algorithms used in the retail sector, for example, could be used in conservation. Momentum is strong. Goldstone-Henry has already signed up a few key conservation organisation customers. Xylo is working with Taronga Zoo on a project to breed snails for release back into the wild on Norfolk Island; remote-sensing data capture reduces the need for expensive travel. The team is working on launching their minimum viable product this year. “We want to be the go-to platform for anyone looking to preserve biodiversity,” says Goldstone-Henry, noting that the pool of potential customers also includes corporates in the mining, energy and construction sectors. “Biodiversity has been left out of the discussion on net-zero and reducing carbon emissions. We want to enable any organisation, conservation-focused or not, to become nature positive by 2030.”