Lake Victoria Challenge Call for Participation PX4 community

Organized by The World Bank, the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in support of the Government of Tanzania, Lake Victoria Challenge is an initiative that aims to explore drones as a new mobility model to deliver life-saving cargo such as blood packs, critical medication, anti-venom, or spare parts for hospital machines for the hard-to-reach, rural communities.

The challenge’s first major milestone: the completion of a celebrated trial and symposium on October 29–31 2018 in Mwanza, Tanzania, brought together 280+ policymakers, innovators, government and local stakeholders to test the feasibility of a large-scale drone competition in Mwanza Region, while an accompanying symposium opened up lively discussion spanning three tracks pertinent to the Lake Victoria Challenge’s aims and context.

Five drone providers participated in the trial run are PX4 based, and now the challenge is opening up its call for participation into the broader global PX4 community. The event planned for 2019 Q3 in Tanzania’s Mwanza Region is inviting global drone technologists to join health and transport experts, local African government and policymakers to together effect change.

Mwanza’s drone corridor is nestled between an airport and large, hard-to-reach communities, making the Lake Victoria Challenge an ideal rehearsal for real-world operations and risk assessment. The Lake Victoria Challenge aims to test the integration of drones into the full ecology of an existing supply chain, and brings together users, operators, community stakeholders and government.

Learn more at http://www.lakevictoriachallenge.org. The flying competition registration deadline is April 25, 2019 midnight (GMT). Here’s the link to apply! Each challenge winner will be awarded GBP100,000 contract with Tanzania government for drone operations.