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The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is working with Minderoo Foundation and XPRIZE to test the technologies as part of the competition. Rob Rogers, NSW RFS Commissioner said, “Early detection and response are crucial for optimal outcomes in protecting communities. It is vital that fire agencies continue to assess and adopt new technologies to ensure they are ready for future extreme fire seasons. XPRIZE Wildfire provides a great opportunity to see the exciting future of firefighting.”

We also worked hard to ensure the National Fisheries Directorate were involved. When the project started, the work of the Directorate was limited mainly to administrative tasks, such as the registration of fishing boats. There was limited understanding of the opportunities for better fisheries management and very little useful data. The team spent time explaining the importance of robust, reliable data, and how it could support national priorities on tackling food insecurity and improving nutrition.

A paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts states: “the deep oceans cover over two-thirds of the surface of the world, and yet more is known about the shape of the surface of the moon than is known about that of the bottom of the ocean”. This refers specifically to the scant amount of data available on the topography of the sea floor and predates both the first crewed descent to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench (), and the first moon landing ().

Some believe that developing countries and LDCs should be exempt from any new restrictions on harmful fisheries subsidies, as they are considered necessary for alleviating poverty and enabling developing countries to compete with large fishing countries. In reality, however, harmful subsidies are not effective for competing with large fishing nations and can worsen poverty in the medium to long term