Resilience

TechEmerge Resilience India

assess

source

select

match

pilot

scale

Project start
Sep, 2019

Open Call
Jan, 2020

Finalist announced
Aug, 2020

Selection process
Sep, 2020

Pilots announced
Jan, 2021

In partnership with:

About
Open Call
Advisor Network
Adopters
Innovators
Pilots

Vulnerable communities in India are facing simultaneous crises, with the COVID-19 pandemic and recurring cycles of natural disasters such as cyclones and floods challenging the capacities of frontline workers and disaster agencies.

Market context

1.37 bn

India has 17% of the world’s population

$8.2 bn

Direct losses from natural disasters in India over the past 20 years

↑151%

Global economic losses from climate-related disasters over 20 years

In partnership with the World Bank, TechEmerge Resilience India connects national, state, and district Disaster Management Authorities (DMAs) with innovators worldwide of affordable, accessible technologies that can help better prepare, respond, and build resilience to disasters and climate change.

Together, we are piloting ten solutions in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand, in close collaboration with respective State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs). If successful, these solutions can be scaled across the country to increase disaster preparedness and resilience capacities across India.

Partners

The TechEmerge Resilience program is a partnership of the World Bank, IFC, the Consumer Technology Association, and the Government of India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). With support from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), innovators have access to a total pool of $1 million in grant funding for pilot implementation, cloud credits and technical assistance from IBM, and technical and advisory support from the World Bank.

Applications closed.

TechEmerge Resilience India was first unveiled in New York and then at CES2020 in Las Vegas to mobilize the global tech community to create solutions focused on the dual development challenges of immediate disaster response in the time of COVID-19, while building long term disaster and climate resilience.

More than 300 applications were received from innovators in more than 100 countries. After a rigorous, six-month, multi-stage evaluation process, ten technologies were selected for pilots on the ground in the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. These innovations aligned with two tracks identified by an in-depth needs assessment.

Track 1: Resilience

	Risk Information & Resilience Analytics Remote data collection, monitoring Dynamic and localized inputs and analytics Integrated Resilience and Recovery Planning Platforms
	Hyperlocal early warning systems Multi-hazard detection and forecasting systems Incident reporting and networking for at-sea citizens Hyperlocal warning and alert systems
	Building Resilience and Mitigating Risks Resilient connectivity and logistics solutions Structural health monitoring solutions Low-cost solutions for lightening, coastal erosion detection and protection Resilient livelihood solutions
	Local Resilience & Response Capacity Training solutions for local risk-informed land use Enhanced building and zoning code compliance solutions Training on resilience housing construction

Track 2: Disaster Management During Pandemics

Integrated Health & Disaster Data Solutions

Platforms for integrated needs and relief mapping and coordination
Integrated supply chain and logistics platforms
Information systems for accurate relief targeting

Disaster preparedness measures for high-risk communities

Increase access to telemedicine
Dynamic migrant mapping database systems
Mobile Emergency Operations Center for remote locations
Two-way info sharing – communities and first responders

Automated early warning and post-disaster impact assessment

Systems/AI models to automate damage assessment
Remote monitoring of critical infrastructure and damage reconstruction
Automated multi-hazard early warning for remote locations
Multi-platform solutions for communication of COVID-19 and disaster warning

TechEmerge Resilience India is supported by a network of advisors with vast experience in disaster resilience, climate, and innovation.

Our resilience pilots are conducted in partnership with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) in Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Uttarakhand. These four states were chosen for not only their high disaster vulnerability, but also their commitment and experience in using technologies and innovation to enhance disaster resilience.

SDMA focal points liaise with innovators on site selection and provide operational, regulatory, and administrative guidance. Implementation and monitoring is provided by World Bank’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project, through the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. This innovative model ensures that while benefits accrue to the SDMA and the states, they do not bear any fiduciary or monitoring burden as they prepare and respond to recurring disasters and COVID-19.

Competitively selected from a field of more than 300 applicants from 100 countries, our innovators offer new solutions to improve disaster and climate resilience in the time of COVID-19

Ten pilots are underway in India to strengthen disaster resilience in the time of COVID-19, leveraging cutting-edge AI, drones, IoT, as well as affordable, accessible wifi-connected radios to ensure information access to remote communities.

Resilience

Quantela

Quantela's COVID-19 Emergency Response Platform (CoVER) is an integrated command and control center for crisis management. It is a proven Command Centre Platform with Flexible and Dynamic Integrations, Visualizations layer, Automation Rules and Mobile Apps (T COVID’19 - on Google Play and App Store). Apart from the command and control center, the platform comes with Field officer mobile app and citizen app. The former streamlines the collection of high-quality data. The latter allows community members to access critical information and contribute localized data to the fight.

Innovator: Quantela

Resilience

ADRC and University of Tokyo

Asia Disaster Reduction Centre and the University of Tokyo have developed Mobipack (Open Source Analysis Software), which extracts mobility patterns and human behavior from mobile big data (Call Detail Record data or CDR data) to inform Covid-19 response efforts. Services include analysis and visualization of the following indicators: Headcounts of subscribers at district level; How many are away from home; Inter-district Origin-Destination (ODs) of subscribers. The software is robust, precise and intuitive. It is also highly economical, and can be scaled at will.

Innovator: ADRC AND University of Tokyo

Resilience

Saif Seas

Saif Seas has developed Autonomous Drones for Rescue, a remote operated buoy that functions as a zero risk rescue device. The buoy has a strong communication range of up to 3kms that can be extended to 10kms if necessary. The buoy is fully customisazle and can be retrofitted with HD cameras, robotic probes or weaponry and designed as per the needs / requirements of the SDMA.

Innovator: Saif Seas

Resilience

Pragathi Foundation

Pragathi foundation is to pilot a Two Way Community Based Connectivity using a Wifi based 2 way Local Radio, that caters to the information needs of rural communities living in a particular locality, which includes portable transmission and receiving devices using open source technology. The pilot is to be implemented in tandem with the chosen SDMA in signal dark areas that have hitherto never been connected to the outside world through any means of telecommunications. The communications solution is low tech, remote community based DRM and focuses on awareness creation. It is also highly cost effective.

Innovator: Pragathi Foundation

Resilience

ideaForge

ideaForge manufactures fully customizable, high capacity drones that can be deployed for defense, homeland security and enterprise solutions. ideaForge's drones will aid the chosen SDMA in; disaster preparedness through surveillance, survey and mapping, disaster response and relief by acting as first responder to provide on-ground situational awareness, and disaster recovery by conducting post-disaster damage assessment.

Innovator: ideaForge

Resilience

Project Owl

Project OWL's Post Disaster Internet Connectivity provides wireless devices basic connectivity for messaging and information. Project OWL developed an innovative unified network infrastructure of hardware, firmware, and software to create a seamless plug-and-play solution. The DuckLink is a wireless device that provides basic connectivity for messaging and information. DuckLinks may be deployed in networked clusters to form the ClusterDuck Network in the air, on the ground, on the water, or underground. The open-source nature of Project OWL's technology makes it an effective solution to distribute code and knowledge to affected communities without requiring on-the-ground manufacturing and teams for deployment.

Innovator: Project Owl

Resilience

Seismic AI early warning system

Seismic AI's End to End Managed Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS) covers all aspects of designing, deploying, maintaining, monitoring and improving the performance of the network. The core of SeismicAI’s EEWS is a unique real-time seismic algorithm that uses Array Seismology to locate the epicenter (back-azimuth), and several unique non-empirical algorithms to estimate the magnitude and expected ground shaking at any location. The algorithm is driven by a state-of-the-art real-time, distributed computing environment that reduces the number of stations / nodes drastically, and supports real-time seismic processing even in the harsh settings where the stations are often located.

Innovator: Seismic AI

Resilience

Nelen & Schuurmans

Nelen & Schuurmans' Flood Forecasting System will develop a flood early warning system that is useful for both immediate calamity management and long-term planning, through two software solutions that can be run through cloud-based computing from any laptop/tablet. The interactive interface allows one to visualize how water flows during the actual simulation, and also interact with it. With the AI based simulation, the user can let it rain, generate storms or break levees, adapt elevation or change the interception of an area. An example here.

Innovator: Nelen & Schuurmans