Drone delivery to improve mass vaccination coverage in urban areas
Rigi Technologies provide on-demand drone delivery, helping to centralise stocks and bring them to those that need them when they need them.
Describe what you intend to do and how you'll do it in one to two sentences (required 350 Characters)
Rigi Technologies provides a holistic cargo drone delivery system with world-wide applications. Based on our view that vans are a better logistics tool than sports cars, our technology is durable and fit for use. With a range of local partners, we believe adding UAVs to the vaccine toolbox can have significant positive impact.Explain the innovation (2,500 characters)
1. What concrete problem your innovation is trying to solve. We aim to improve accessibility for hard to reach vaccine populations by providing an on-demand cargo drone delivery service. This will enable community health workers to request direct deliveries, circumventing the significant traffic-delayed travel times in large urban contexts. 2. Who will benefit if this problem is addressed? How will they benefit from your idea / what are the direct benefits you hope to create? If you can, get specific. Where do they live? What is their age? How many people might this intervention realistically reach? If you can, describe a typical user/client/beneficiary. Mobile and vulnerable populations within the urban context who would not attend mass vaccination posts under normal circumstances — enabling sufficient herd immunity. 3. Two to Three sentence description of your innovation. Introducing a disruptive shift to the world of urban vaccination — moving from a health-post centric approach to an on-demand beneficiary-centred service. This will bring the vaccinations to the hard-to-reach mobile populations, rather than having to gather large numbers in one place at certain times. 4. Description of how the your innovation works. Rigi Technologies' system is a complete user-friendly service based on robust and safe UAV technology. Using what it essentially a flying box with vertical take off and landing, the service favours smaller, frequent deliveries over larger aggregated activities. 5. Demonstration or details of how your solution has been proven. The team of Rigi Technologies have over 20 years experience in the UAV sector, with a particular focus on the development and humanitarian implementation of the technology. Iterations of our drone has flown projects in Dominican Republic and Peru in collaboration with local partners, and in Tanzania for the Lake Victoria Challenge symposium. 6. Explanation of how your innovation can be applied to the challenges of accelerating immunisation efficiencies within highly urban populations in Gavi countries. The challenges for urban vaccination campaigns rest mostly with mobile and vulnerable populations. Empowering community health works who understand the local contexts better than anyone, our technology will enable them to call in vaccines extremely quickly without having to leave the site. This on-demand service address one of the largest challenges of urban vaccination campaigns.Which part(s) of the world does this innovation target?
- North Africa
- Eastern Africa
- Middle Africa
- Southern Africa
- Western Africa
- Caribbean
- Central America
- South America
- Northern America
- Central Asia
- Eastern Asia
- South-eastern Asia
- Southern Asia
- Western Asia
- Eastern Europe
- Northern Europe
- Southern Europe
- Western Europe
- Oceania
Geographic Focus
The solution can be implemented in almost all regions, but is particularly suited to areas where there are infrastructure challenges (i.e. extreme congestion, rainy seasons and poor roads.) UAV delivery offers a new paradigm for reliable and fast logistics systems.Stage of Innovation
- Early Adaption
Who will work alongside your organization in the project idea? (1,000 characters)
GAVI's understanding of their local partners' needs make it best placed to identify where our services should be applied. In addition, we have linked with local NGOs to demonstrate that the technology works. In the past, the team's experience working within and alongside NGO partners has provided us with the essential knowledge that, for innovative solutions to work, they must be led by those that know the local context best. Our technology will be an additional tool to respond continuously to the local needs where and when they appear.How is your idea unique? (750 characters)
Cargo drone delivery has been demonstrated in the humanitarian context already, but remains expensive and unsustainable in its current form. The cheap and robust nature of our technology enables local businesses to take over operations of the service, whilst the quality is assured by our ongoing support and technological development. Significantly for the development sector, our drones are built with 3D printing, so spare parts can be produced by those operating the drones rather than having to be imported. This expansion in local capacity offers increased employment opportunities and a truly sustainable solution.What is the name of your organization
Rigi TechnologiesExplain your organization (250 characters)
Holistic drone cargo service delivery, focused on an affordable and sustainable business model.Type of Submitter
- We are a For-Profit Startup or Startup Social Enterprise
Gender and Diversity (500 characters)
Our past experience in Zanzibar have demonstrated that UAVs offer an unstigmatised industry that is open to women in traditional contexts — half of the trained operators were women. Expanding this sector could increase diverse employment opportunities. In addition, Rigi practices unbiased, gender equal hiring procedures.Organization Location (less than 250 Characters)
Lausanne, Switzerland with close links to international organisations operating world-wide.Size of organization (number of employees):
- Less than 5 people
Website URL
http://rigi.tech/Scale of organizational work
- Global (within 2 or more global regions)
Tell us more about you

Applying to Gavi INFUSE
- Referred by a friend / colleague
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CommentManisha Laroia