University of Surrey and Zoetis launch vHive 2.0
Researchers at vHive 2.0 will work to develop new innovations in animal health.
The University of Surrey and animal health company Zoetis have launched the latest incarnation of their Veterinary Health Innovation Engine (vHive) collaboration.
First launched in 2015, vHive allowed staff from the Zoetis Centre for Digital Innovation and academics from the University of Surrey's School of Veterinary Medicine to collaborate on research into the use of digital technologies to improve animal health.
Expanding the partnership, vHive 2.0 will look at ways to apply new technologies from human healthcare, including artificial intelligence, big data and health informatics. It is hoped the research will lead to insights and solutions which will help veterinary professionals, pet owners and farmers.
The new tools already being developed as part of vHive 2.0 include analysing social media posts through social listening to find improved ways to support owners whose pets have common conditions.
The original vHive contributed to the work done by the African Livestock Productivity and Health Advancement initiative (ALPHA) which has helped to tackle diseases and increase productivity for livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Rimma Driscoll, executive vice-president and head of global strategy, commercial and business development, and Global BioDevices at Zoetis, said: “There is a very good complementarity on the expertise that Zoetis and University of Surrey are contributing to in this partnership towards innovation and forward-thinking technologies in this sector. We expect that vHive will benefit the agri-health industry tremendously and towards sustainability.”
Prof Tony Whetton, director of vHive, added: “To advance animal health, it is important to utilise all the available data and use it well with modern informatics methods. vHive will break down silos that have existed in the past, developing multidisciplinary research for improved animal health.”
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
