Wars, climate change, political unrest all leave heritage at risk from looting and theft. Sotera has created a system that allows people to record any objects they think are at risk of being stolen, looted, or damaged in a crisis. We store the photos on our system, and analyse them with our Computer Vision engine. If objects get looted and trafficked into the mainstream market, we aim to help identify them if they are sold online, and in future if someone tries to insure them.

Sotera creates visual records of objects with time and geo-location data within the images. We have further layers of security and identity that create a high level of certainty that the images are authentic. This database can be used to identify objects if they are found, and confirm where they came from in order to return them.

Sotera's system is designed to be used quickly in a crisis. We just require photos, taken on a phone or camera, along with some identifying information. The photos can be uploaded to our server, or can be handed on a memory key to individual and partner locations around the world. These images are stored in our database, which can be used to search for objects, or identify them later.

Sotera Heritage is the non-profit activity of Sotera Insure, an Insurtech Startup. Sotera was founded at Cambridge University, and developed in the Accelerate Program at the Judge Business School, and Lloyds Lab at Lloyds of London. Sotera works closely with a number of leading museums, universities, and technology providers. Our core interest is in using technology to confirm what unusual objects are in order to understand their risk. In insurance this allows us to price insurance policies more accurately. In heritage protection it enables us to identify objects that have been looted or stolen. Together, this helps protect cultural heritage and objects people, institutions, and countries consider valuble.