For the final 5 years, I’ve spent lots of time listening to and documenting the tales of builders which might be utilizing AWS applied sciences to resolve onerous human issues for my sequence Now Go Construct. Whether or not it’s offering an id to beforehand unbanked rice farmers in Indonesia, utilizing pc imaginative and prescient and machine studying to responsibly farm fish in Norway, or discovering methods to pair cloud expertise with human instinct to reforest components of Hawaii, progressive people all over the world are displaying that not everybody desires to be the subsequent unicorn, and proving that it’s attainable to do good and run a worthwhile enterprise.
Nonetheless, realizing the complete potential that expertise presents to resolve these urgent points, akin to catastrophe reduction and local weather change, takes extra than simply monetary funding. It requires a devoted give attention to nurturing and growing the technical experience and innovation capabilities of the leaders in these areas. That’s why earlier this 12 months at VivaTech, I introduced the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship in collaboration with AI for Changemakers led by Tech To The Rescue.
This fellowship is tailor-made for aspiring tech leaders in nonprofits and social affect organizations. It offers fellows with coaching, mentorship, and entry to AWS specialists to speed up their progress and the event of tech options that may make a profound distinction in areas akin to catastrophe administration, local weather, well being and past.
As we speak, I’d prefer to announce the primary two cohorts of the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship: Catastrophe Administration, and Local weather Resilience. These people and their organizations are taking over a few of humanity’s hardest issues — and I’d prefer to introduce them to you (in their very own phrases).
Aleksandra (Ola) Bilicka, Assist.NGO
Based mostly in: Poznań, Poland
From a younger age, I acknowledged the numerous potential of expertise to do good, from flying ultralight plane to witnessing drones establish at-risk penguin colonies. Hybrid edge computing and its capability to handle a few of the world’s most difficult humanitarian and improvement points has been a driving pressure for me. In my present position, I’m lucky to leverage these applied sciences as our staff responds to crises and sophisticated emergencies, starting from hurricanes in Mexico and tornadoes in Kentucky to earthquakes in Turkey and battle in Ukraine. Our staff makes use of open-source AWS workloads to allow multinational organizations, native leaders, and first responders to grasp area challenges, visualize knowledge, make knowledgeable selections, and talk on the transfer. I hope the Fellowship will equip me with management abilities and supply a deeper understanding of rising applied sciences and their purposes in emergency settings.
Based mostly in: Saint Paul, MN, USA
Mercy Corps is a world group serving communities in over 40 nations, serving to them rebuild after disasters, break cycles of poverty, and forge paths to prosperity within the face of injustice, instability, and local weather change. We leverage digital applied sciences, distant sensing, AI, and cloud computing to develop and scale progressive options that improve the effectiveness and effectivity of humanitarian help. As Senior Director of Know-how for Improvement, I spearhead efforts to establish new purposes for expertise and knowledge, develop methods for tech integration, and construct inside technical capability. The CTO Fellowship presents a rare alternative to be taught from one of many world’s most progressive executives and elevate our capability to harness expertise for social good.
Based mostly in: Pittsburgh, PA
With 20 years of expertise expertise spanning various industries together with gaming, finance, and now meals restoration, I’ve been serving because the Head of Engineering at 412 Meals Rescue/Meals Rescue Hero for the previous 5 years. Throughout this time, I’ve helped broaden the Meals Rescue Hero (FRH) platform to interact over 50,000 volunteers throughout 20 North American areas. The FRH platform presents Meals Restoration Organizations a complete resolution for environment friendly operations and volunteer administration, aiming to streamline the meals restoration course of and make it as intuitive, equitable, and accessible as attainable for all stakeholders. This Fellowship presents a singular alternative to achieve insights into the challenges confronted by different progressive organizations in our area. Furthermore, it would amplify our nationwide attain and pave the best way for our international enlargement efforts.
Based mostly in: Heredia, Costa Rica
I’m deeply enthusiastic about leveraging progressive applied sciences, distant sensing, picture and knowledge processing to create optimistic affect. Because the CTO of qAIRa in Lima, Peru, and the CEO of Inexperienced Xpo Lab in San José, Costa Rica, I lead groups that harness distant sensing expertise, knowledge analytics, and AI fashions to develop options that empower our shoppers to make knowledgeable selections. Our focus is on creating the best platform to current these outcomes, guaranteeing our shoppers not solely entry the info they want but in addition acquire precious insights that drive steady enchancment of our choices. The Fellowship represents an thrilling alternative for me to chart a transparent path in direction of turning into an distinctive challenge and product supervisor, in addition to a more practical expertise chief. As I try to steer my groups to success, I’m keen to amass the instruments and techniques essential to information our efforts and obtain our formidable objectives extra successfully.
Based mostly in: Ubungo, Tanzania
Because the CTO at Code for Africa, I lead groups that construct civic tech options to empower communities and drive social change throughout the continent by means of data-driven initiatives. My ardour lies in utilizing expertise to handle social points, specializing in growing accessible instruments for citizen engagement, knowledge evaluation, and public service supply. As an open-source advocate and seasoned technical chief, I’m dedicated to creating expertise that serves those that want it most.
Based mostly in: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rising up in Latin America, I witnessed firsthand the challenges our area faces. This expertise fueled my want to make a distinction, main me to a profession in public affairs the place I honed my abilities in driving impactful change. Nonetheless, I sought a approach to apply these abilities with better precision and scale – like a surgeon needing a scalpel, not only a hammer. This pursuit led me to CRIES, the place we leverage AI and OSINT to handle important points akin to arms trafficking, defending indigenous group rights, combating disinformation, and stopping climate-driven conflicts. I consider the Now Go Construct Fellowship can be instrumental in scaling our affect and growing an formidable early warning system for the area.
Based mostly in: Bangladesh and Nepal
With practically a decade of expertise in innovation administration inside the humanitarian and improvement sectors, I give attention to selling open-source improvements and whole-of-community approaches to reinforce resilience in resource-constrained environments. My experience lies in leveraging social innovation, human-centered design, and the even handed software of frontier applied sciences to handle challenges confronted throughout humanitarian crises. As Chair of the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub’s Advisory Group and a Fellow on the Ethereum Basis, I deliver a various perspective to the sector. At present, I’m spearheading efforts in exploration, technique improvement, and speedy experimentation round Generative AI at ACAPS and BRAC.
Based mostly in: Bristol, UK
I’m Petya Kangalova, Know-how Partnership and Engagement Lead on the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Crew (HOT). At HOT, we offer map knowledge that revolutionizes catastrophe administration, mitigates dangers, and contributes to attaining the Sustainable Improvement Targets. We develop a collection of open-source instruments for collaborative mapping and geospatial knowledge assortment, together with an AI-assisted mapping service that enhances effectivity for humanitarian mappers.
As an open tech fanatic, group builder, innovator, and advocate for range and inclusion within the tech business, this Fellowship will empower me to strengthen my management abilities and speed up innovation within the open mapping and geospatial area. It’ll additionally facilitate connections and collaborations with different leaders within the tech and humanitarian sectors, enabling us to refine our applied sciences and create extra sustainable affect in addressing as we speak’s most urgent challenges.
Based mostly in: Pune, India
At WOTR, I spearhead initiatives that harness expertise to reinforce rural resilience and empowerment, addressing challenges in sustainable agriculture, meals safety, drought resilience, and local weather adaptation. By integrating AI, satellite tv for pc imagery, and cell instruments, we allow communities to make data-driven selections and enhance operational effectivity. The CTO Fellowship presents invaluable insights and connections that may assist us scale our affect on rural livelihoods and environmental conservation.
A name for future fellows
Whereas our inaugural Fellows has been chosen, we’re nonetheless recruiting fellows with a spotlight in these important areas:
- Well being
- Training
- Financial Improvement
Go to Tech to the Rescue to be taught extra in regards to the Now Go Construct CTO Fellowship and to apply.
Now, Go Construct!
