Selected

Last Updated June 7, 2021

Health Security & Pandemics Challenge

Crowddroning by GLOBHE

Creating a better future with drones by detecting and predicting disasters

Team Leader

Helena Samsioe

Solution Pitch

The Problem

Every year, malaria affects approximately 220 million people and puts around 40 percent of the global population at risk. Furthermore, natural hazards also impact about 218 million people globally every year and are growing due to climate change. These threats pose grave challenges to the humanitarian and public health sectors of the affected regions. Not only do solutions require knowing where the need for aid and assistance is most critical, but many current sources lack the resolution and timely accuracy needed to efficiently help these regions. Tools like satellite imagery can lag anywhere from weeks to years, and with limited resolution, it doesn’t address the needs of sudden-onset events. The problem of accurate and immediate hazard aid is necessary and more important than ever.

The Solution

GLOBHE is creating a better future with drones by detecting and predicting hazards through a “crowddroning” platform, connected to more than 4,000 drones in 90 countries. GLOBHE trains and employs local drone pilots to be able to collect data on demand. The data collected then helps to prevent dangerous situations. Malaria outbreaks can be avoided by finding infected mosquito breeding sites before they become malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, local residents can be warned of drought before it results in a wildfire, and cracks in a bridge can be detected before it collapses.

Market Opportunity

Crowddroning by GLOBHE operates globally in 4 industries: health, water, environment, and infrastructure. The total costs of malaria outbreaks, clean water and sanitation, and natural hazards sum up to $442 billion per year.

Organization Highlights

Media features in major news outlets, such as Forbes and BBC.
Helena Samsioe (team lead) has been named "World's Top 50 Women in Tech" by Forbes, received "Swede of the Year Innovation 2020", ranked as one of the most powerful businesswomen in Sweden, nominated for "Digital Influencer of the Year", and has been featured as the "Drone Queen" on BBC.

Partnership Goals

GLOBHE seeks:

Connections to resources for technology platform development.
Expansion of client base in need of drone data to predict and respond to disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and more.

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Crowddroning by GLOBHE

One-line solution summary:

We send out local drone pilots to help you capture high-quality data on demand to detect and predict disasters around the world.

Pitch your solution.

At GLOBHE, we're creating a better future with drones. Our Crowddroning platform has over 4000 drone pilots in more than 85 countries. Any organization can request drone data globally through our platform, and once matched with a local drone pilot from our network, the collected data helps prevent and respond to disease outbreaks and disasters around the world.

Our solution has been used to:

Monitor water pollution with the goal of detecting unhealthy characteristics to prevent natural disasters and disease outbreaks.
Collect water data to combat flooding, cholera, and malaria outbreaks
Assess damage to infrastructure after natural disasters
Collect photos to monitor climate change, find dry areas to warn for wildfires, and identify flood-prone areas

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Thousands of drones are flying around in our skies every day. However, at the same time, disease outbreaks, pollution, and other health and natural disasters occur due to a lack of information that could have prevented them. Satellite imagery is used in response to these problems, but it has proven to be outdated and low quality.

Drone data solves this issue and is available on-demand, at low costs, providing high-quality data, and cuts carbon emissions.

The types of data that GLOBHE drones can collect address the following problems:

Water Data: Unsafe water kills more people than disasters and conflict. 884 million people do not have safe water to drink. Small leaks and pollution can’t be seen on satellite images but seen with Crowddroning.
Health Data: 40 % of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk. Mosquito breeding sites can’t be seen on satellite images but are now found with Crowddroning.
Infrastructure data: Reduces fall accidents by 100% by sending a drone instead of a human up the tower

Environmental data: 218 million people are affected by natural disasters every year. Drones prevent natural disasters by identifying risk areas.

What is your solution?

Our drone on-demand platform matches clients with drone pilots worldwide. Nearly 4000 drone pilots in over 85 countries fly for the Crowddroning by GLOBHE platform.

We've got two main solutions for providing drone data on demand.

Our 'On demand' solution is a case-by-case service where the client can
request drone data of a specific area that they select.

The second 'Subscription' solution is essentially providing recurring drone data service of that same area to track changes over time

Below you can see a product example of how it looks like to the client
that requests drone data, and the pilot that receives the mission to
collect the drone data.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our solution helps improve any population that battles the risk of disease outbreaks. Being able to collect better data through drones means solving these important societal problems that affect everyone, globally.

Today 40 % of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk and 300 million people suffer from acute malaria each year. According to UNICEF malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum. Drones are now helping do that by identifying mosquito larval population target areas up to 30 times faster than traditional surveying methods. The GLOBHE drones are taking images throughout the dry season to help us understand where mosquitoes are laying their eggs. We’re focusing on areas around dams and reservoirs as we believe these provide the ideal habitat for mosquitoes and result in surrounding villages being at greater risk of malaria during drier periods.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Strengthen disease surveillance, early warning predictive systems, and other data systems to detect, slow, or halt future disease outbreaks.

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Today 40% of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk and
300 million people suffer from acute malaria each year. Drones are now helping do that by identifying mosquito larval population target areas up to 30 times faster than traditional surveying methods.

This is just one of the many health threats out there. GLOBHE is all about detecting and preparing for health threats to prevent disasters such as outbreaks and pandemics. This is a one-on-one alignment with the challenge. We make drones easy accessible to organizations so they can collect vital data to detect early warning signs.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Stockholm, Sweden

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

Our platform and business model are rolled out and actively being used by organizations to collect health data, water data, environmental data, and infrastructure data.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Helena Samsioe

More About Your Solution

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

https://globhe.com/

If you have additional video content that explains your solution, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link here:

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new application of an existing technology

What makes your solution innovative?

We are the only global on-demand drone data platform in the world, that makes it easy to request drone data in over 80 countries. Compared to competitors, there is no other provider that operates at the same scale, speed, and cost.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
Crowd Sourced Service / Social Networks
Imaging and Sensor Technology
Robotics and Drones
Software and Mobile Applications

Select the key characteristics of your target population.

Rural
Peri-Urban
Urban

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?

3. Good Health and Well-being
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
13. Climate Action
17. Partnerships for the Goals

How many people does your solution currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

We currently have over 4000 drone pilots from 85 countries, and 50 clients actively interested and/or using drone data. We expect to increase drone pilots and clients by 50% YoY, and countries by 10%.

How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?

We work closely with the organization that is addressing measurable problems that need to be solved using drone data. This way, we get a very clear understanding of the before and after statistics once the drone data collection part has been done. Our solution helps reach the following sustainable development goals:

About Your Team

What type of organization is your solution team?

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

How many people work on your solution team?

5 full-time employee
3 part-time employee
2 part-time contractors

How long have you been working on your solution?

1.5 years

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

At GLOBHE, we have a tremendous team of 'Globians'
with a deep passion for collecting and using crucial drone data to
prevent disasters around the world.

Founder: Helena Samsioe (LinkedIn)
Helena founded GLOBHE and leads the team to make our platform vision a reality.

Chief Strategy Officer: Karim Osman
He is focused on strategically growing our team, product, finances, and overall
operations to make GLOBHE efficient and productive.

Head of Marketing: Matilda Waara Holmqvist (LinkedIn)
Matilda leads all things marketing at GLOBHE.

Flow Manager: Mikael Costa Pinto (LinkedIn)
Mikael is focused on getting our global work and development with all our drone pilots and clients while on their missions.

Head of Creative: Chase Sellmeyer (LinkedIn)
Chase brings over 10 years of digital creation, innovation, and development to GLOBHE and is focused on all things design on our platform.

Drone Pilot Coordinator: Oscar Ohlson (LinkedIn)
Oscar coordinates our drone pilots to running a successful mission.

Happiness Manager: Napoleon Bergström (LinkedIn)
Napoleon is responsible for handling our administration, employee experience, and supporting the team.

Full Stack Developer: Rémy Ghalayini (LinkedIn)
Rémy uses his programming and data skills to develop
our Crowddroning by GLOBHE platform and provide a smoother online experience for our clients.

Head of Sales: Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm (LinkedIn)
Arnaud runs our sales pipeline and brings clients on board for them to make the best use of our solutions.

Head of Drones: Isabelle Nyroth (LinkedIn)
Isabelle brings our drone operations to the next level.

What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?

We work globally with a remote distributed team. We have no restrictions on hiring people within a geographical area. Our goal is to make our team an excellent home for everyone.

At GLOBHE, diversity is not limited to gender, gender identity and/or expression, race, sexual orientation, political and/or religious affiliations, cultural and/or socioeconomic background, disabilities, or age.

Your Business Model & Partnerships

Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities

Why are you applying to Solve?

We believe that we have what it takes to reduce health risk with our Crowddroning by GLOBHE solution.

Our solution has been used to:

Monitor water pollution with the goal of detecting unhealthy characteristics to prevent natural disasters and disease outbreaks.
Collect water data to combat flooding, cholera, and malaria outbreaks
Assess damage to infrastructure after natural disasters
Collect photos to monitor climate change, find dry areas to warn for wildfires, and identify flood-prone areas

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?

Product / Service Distribution (e.g. expanding client base)

Please explain in more detail here.

We'd love to get extra help in order to reach our distribution goal of expanding our platform with clients, flight missions, and meaningful partnerships.

What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?

Any organization that sees value in collecting valuable data from above ground level using drones. We currently work with interesting non-profit organizations that work on reducing health risks. More partnerships along those same lines are of interest to us.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize to advance your solution?

We strongly believe our Crowddroning by GLOBHE platform could help collect important drone data to predict and prevent pandemics, along with improving health security.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

No, I do not wish to be considered for this prize, even if the prize funder is specifically interested in my solution

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for the Innovation for Women Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use the Innovation for Women Prize to advance your solution?

The GLOBHE founder, Helena Samsioe has been named “World’s Top 50 Women in Tech” by Forbes, ranked among the most powerful businesswomen in Sweden, named “Top Woman to Watch in the Drone Industry” and been featured as the “Drone Queen” on BBC. She has been part of developing and implementing innovative mobile solutions on a global scale in different managerial roles in Europe, Africa, and the US previous to founding GLOBHE.

Also, GLOBHE empowers females and girls to become drone pilots and get involved with our platform. Read this story about one of our female ambassadors.

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The AI for Humanity Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Yes, I wish to apply for this prize

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The AI for Humanity Prize to advance your solution?

At GLOBHE, we're creating a better future with drones. Our Crowddroning platform has over 4000 drone pilots in more than 85 countries. Any organization can request drone data globally through our platform, and once matched with a local drone pilot from our network, the collected data is being analyzed with AI, and helps prevent disease outbreaks.

Our solution has been used to:

Monitor water pollution with the goal of detecting unhealthy characteristics to prevent natural disasters and disease outbreaks.
Collect water data to combat flooding, cholera, and malaria outbreaks
Assess damage to infrastructure after natural disasters
Collect photos to monitor climate change, find dry areas to warn for wildfires, and identify flood-prone areas

Do you qualify for and would you like to be considered for The Global Fund Prize? If you select Yes, explain how you are qualified for the prize in the additional question that appears.

Explain how you are qualified for this prize. How will your team use The Global Fund Prize to advance your solution?

Today 40 % of the world’s population live in areas with malaria risk and 300 million people suffer from acute malaria each year. According to UNICEF malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum. Drones are now helping do that by identifying mosquito larval population target areas up to 30 times faster than traditional surveying methods. The GLOBHE drones are taking images throughout the dry season to help us understand where mosquitoes are laying their eggs. We’re focusing on areas around dams and reservoirs as we believe these provide the ideal habitat for mosquitoes and result in surrounding villages being at greater risk of malaria during drier periods.

Solver Team

Organization Type:
For-Profit

Headquarters:
Stockholm, Sweden

Stage:
Growth

Working In:
Malawi, Sweden, Angola, Cyprus, Norway

Current Employees:
8

Solution Website:
https://globhe.com/

Solution Team:

Helena Samsioe
Founder & CEO