Werobotics Global 2019

On March 1, 2019 Jackie Dujmovic of Hover UAV had the privilege of being invited to New York to attend the 2019 WeRobotics Global event and present on the ground breaking work that Hover UAV has been doing in Australia. A highly curated selection of diverse practitioners from a wide range of sectors including humanitarian aid, sustainable development, public health, nature conservation, robotics, artificial intelligence, government, private sector and philanthropy came together at the Rockerfeller Foundation in New York to catalyze new partnerships based on lessons learned and best practices. A key signature of WeRobotics Global is the core collective focus on needs and inclusive participation, rather than the technology. This explains why the conference design was deliberately biased towards open, community-driven discussions and collective brainstorming (rather than non-stop presentations).

Jackie Dujmovic – Hover UAV

LESSONS LEARNED & LOCAL PROBLEM SOLVING

Flying Labs from a dozen countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania discussed their latest efforts and lessons learned in solving local problems through inclusive participation. Also learnt was how practitioners are saving lives by providing early warnings of shark attacks (Hover UAV); how seasoned journalists in conflict zones are drawing on an entirely new perspective and form of storytelling to highlight the needs of at-risk communities; how food security experts are improving their forecast models for small-holder farms and how disaster responders are accelerating their assessment efforts in near real-time. Equally importantly, new partnerships were formed to bring these new solutions to more Flying Labs and beyond.

Patrick Meier – WeRobotics

REACHING THE MOST REMOTE COMMUNITIES

Reaching The Most Remote Communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania and that’s not all. Also learnt from some of the world’s leading public health professionals were lessons on reaching the most remote communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania to provide life-saving health services. In addition, lessons were learnt on how plastic and other wastes are being removed from polluted rivers, lakes and coastlines in more efficient ways. Also  practitioners who have found far more effective ways to identify and fix water leaks in order to better preserve the precious water on our planet. Furthermore, learnt was how aging farmers are able to continue managing their crops in a manner that is less physically demanding and how new data platforms are democratizing access to remote sensing imagery to help inform local decisions across multiple sectors. Drawing on these insights to discussions were held so these leanings and opportunities can be localized across the Flying Labs network and beyond.

WeRobotics Labs, Hover UAV & Robot Missions

The closing Keynote for WeR Global 2019 was from the futurist and science-fiction author, Malka Older. Malka also has more than 8 years of professional experience in humanitarian aid and development. She was named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.