Vasileios Koutsopoulos

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There is a growing number of people that support drones as a mean to overcome some of the difficulties the COVID-19 situation has brought. In the past, drones have been considered mainly as an end-customer delivery mean, which can perform the service cheaper and faster. A potential extension of this application can help in providing medicines, and potentially even the vaccine itself, to remoted areas safely and fast. Nowadays, there is a significant portion of the society that would welcome the opportunity to avoid visiting the pharmacy store, grocery store and in general public places.

Amongst the countries that have implemented such models in Scotland. Skyports, a mobility company, is currently using drones to deliver test kits and PPE to habitats on the Isle of Mull. In this way, the medical teams can avoid getting exposed while still performing their services. Similarly, Zipline is also using drones to faster provide critical COVID-19 supplies to regions in Africa. The CEO of the company has also discussed the possibility of delivering goods, through the use of drones, to elderly or vulnerable people in the near future. Keep in mind also the lack of infrastructure that Africa faces in general and how drones can help in overcoming such obstacles.

In addition to that, drones can help in making public announcements based on the new rules and measures taken by the local authorities. Besides that, drone technology can also serve as a mean to guarantee that citizens follow the restrictions set. For example, in the Netherlands and in Malaysia, drones have been used to check if the social meter parameter is satisfied. In case they did not, a noisy reminder was warning them to increase the distance from each other.

Last, as the aviation sector has suffered a lot in the COVID-19 era, opportunities in the lower airspace, such as drones, are an interesting prospect to explore. Of course, the usage of drones has been heavily criticized about violating people’s rights and privacy, but in extreme situations such as this ones, perhaps they are the solution. Do you think drones are part of the solution or will they cause more problems than they solve?

Sources:

https://www.techuk.org/insights/opinions/item/17888-drones-on-the-front-line-of-the-covid-19-pandemic

How drones have risen to the Covid-19 challenge

https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/how-drones-are-being-used-to-combat-covid-19/

Click to access drones-covid-19.pdf

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Since 2013, Microsoft has launched the initiative “4Africa”, with the aim of supporting empowering ideas that lead to digital innovations and economic growth in Africa. Microsoft is a supporter of the view that Africa can lead the technological revolution and has committed to supporting both people and business in becoming active in the uprising digital world.
Microsoft is known as one of the best software companies worldwide and for being a trusted provider of cloud services. One of its partners that has successfully used its cloud services is BroadReach, a South-African based, health ISV (Independent Software Vendor) company. Together they have contributed to the treatment of HIV, and with the use of their cloud services, they have fastened the analysis of the input data from multiple sites in almost real-time. Thus, they are able to take actions faster and communicate the results through the use of dashboards in multiple locations. This is just one case from the healthcare sector that digital transformations have helped in saving lives by making processes more efficient.

Another vital component is helping the local population develop skills with the aim of decreasing the unemployment rates and better adapting to the digital transforming environment. This is one of the priorities of the 4Africa project in collaboration with educational institutions and government authorities. So far, Microsoft has provided training sessions to more than 1.5 million people and 1,500 organizations. Interns4Africa is another initiative that is currently one of the main sources of skilled IT professionals in Africa. Microsoft strongly believes that investing in human capital is equally important to any ICT-related investment.
Up to this point, Microsoft has positively affected the lives of more than 8 million people in Africa through technological developments. Besides the initiatives taken by Microsoft, the success of its programs also relies on the local governments. Research by EY and Microsoft in Africa has found that one of the main barriers of implementing Artificial Technologies is the absence of digital policies and regulations. Additionally, the immigration of the educated young population to other places is another obstacle that Africa has to deal with. Given such barriers, can we expect Africa to breach the technological gap that it currently has, compared to other continents? And can Microsoft set the example for more companies to expand their operations in Africa?
References
https://news.microsoft.com/en-xm/2020/09/02/how-investing-in-digital-infrastructure-can-make-the-difference-to-africas-economic-recovery/
https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE3yKjd
https://www.microsoft.com/africa/4afrika/broadreach.aspx
https://www.microsoft.com/africa/4afrika/about-us.aspx

Drones in the COVID-19 era

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How Microsoft is Transforming Africa?

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