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How can #AI & #drones be used ethically to solve local problems? UnusualSolvers.org is offering over $200K for solutions

Author:
Craig Zelizer

July 1, 2019

“It’s not about the drones”

We experience this first hand on a daily basis at WeRobotics and across the Flying Labs network. Only approximately 10% of time is actually invested in the drone itself, the other 90% is all about data and community and stakeholder engagement. So why is it that most organizations concentrate their efforts today on the 10%? We teamed up with Omidyar Network to tackle and find solutions for the remaining 90%, what we call the “enabling environment”. And we count on unusual solvers to find and build solutions that fit the specific needs of the Global South!

1 Competition

Participate now and enter your idea before August 31, 2019.

Please cite PCDN as the source of the posting in your application. 

9 finalists will win USD 15,000 each to turn their idea into a concept and create a strong pitch. And then compete for the grand prize of USD 100,000 for the best solution.

3 Challenges

Tackle the 3 most pressing challenges we encounter in our work today:

how to produce impactful analysis in a rapid manner, how to bring back results to beneficiaries to turn data into action and how to make ethics a main concern in each step of the process.

LOCAL EXPERTS

We call on you, the many bright and creative expert minds and teams from all over the planet,

and especially solvers from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, to submit your solutions on how to best tackle the 3 challenges.

Global Solutions

Don’t be fooled by thinking that local solutions cannot have a global reach.

Many of the solutions we see in the daily work of Flying Labs are not only fitting local social challenges, but can easily be applied in other similar environments.

1 Competition

The best overall solution will win USD 100,000 and 3 finalists of each challenge will win USD 15,000 each to turn their idea into solutions.

Here are the steps to get there:

Ideation

Choose your challenge and submit your idea.

It all starts with your idea! And It’s easy to submit it before August 31, 2019: choose your challenge, sign-up to receive the full submission package including a detailed description of the challenge, a template to define your idea, information on criteria and eligibility and a link to submit your idea. Promised, we don’t ask you for a master thesis but maximum a 2-page description of your idea, short and to the point.

 

From June 19 – August 31, 2019

Competition

Turn your idea into a concept.

Expert juries will comb through the great ideas in search of the 3 pearls of each challenge and determine the 9 finalists that will be announced in late September 2019.

A grant of USD 15,000 will be awarded to each of the 9 finalists. This financial support will allow the finalists to turn their idea into a concept over the coming 4 months. Mentors will support the finalists to create winning concepts and a compelling pitch.

 

From September 2019 – January 2020

Final pitch

Pitch your concept and win.

Ready, set, pitch! The 9 finalists will meet up in person and face a final jury to compete for the USD 100,000 that will be awarded to the best overall solution. We will find a cool place to give the 9 finalists and the jury a motivating setting to determine the overall winner.
Though only 1 team will walk away with the final prize, all 9 finalists are winners by having turned their idea into concepts that are ready to be implemented.

 

Early February 2020

3 Challenges

Drone data allows to find solutions for a wide range of social challenges, may it be related to humanitarian aid, land rights, conservation, agriculture, resilient urban planning and many more. The 3 most pressing issues we encounter in our work today are how to produce impactful analysis in a rapid manner, how to then bring back results to beneficiaries to turn data into action and how to make ethics a main concern in each step of the process.

Discover our 3 challenges here:

Drone data & AI tools

How can data and AI tools become
more relevant to solving
local social challenges?

 

Last data mile

How can we bring back drone data
and insights to all beneficiaries
and turn data into action?

 

Drone & data ethics

How can drones and data
be used ethically to
solve meaningful problems?

For more info click here

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