SORA Technology Co., Ltd. (Head office: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Founder and CEO: Yosuke Kaneko, hereinafter SORA Technology), which is tackling global health and climate change issues with AI and aerospace technology, has been selected as one of the 10 companies in the INFUSE Community, a program organized by GAVI* (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation).
SORA Technology proposed an initiative that uses drones and AI to predict explosive epidemics of infectious diseases such as cholera and dengue fever, and was praised as an innovative project.
This is the first time a Japanese startup has been selected for the INFUSE Community, and we will take this opportunity to coordinate with global companies and organizations in the global health field to accelerate efforts to reduce the number of people who suffer from infectious diseases.

List of services provided by the 10 companies along with their logos (excerpt from GAVI materials)

*GAVI: https://www.gavi.org/

What is GAVI INFUSE*?

The purpose of this project is to improve the technology of startups around the world and lead to its implementation through expert advice and venture capital funding.
Each time, it is an international project that more than 100 startups from all over the world who are working on a business in the healthcare field apply.
The startups that were finally selected were given the opportunity to engage with global companies and organisations, and the six companies that were selected last time have raised a total of more than 30 billion yen.
SORA Technology was selected as one of the 10 shortlisted companies for the 2024 program, and participated in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, as a member of the INFUSE Community.
This is the first time a Japanese startup has done so.
* INFUSE stands for “Innovation for Uptake, Scale and Equity in Immunisation”

At the final selection venue of the INFUSE program. Vice President Umeda (middle row, fourth from the left) – Nairobi, Kenya

GAVI INFUSE: https://www.gavi.org/investing-gavi/infuse/call-innovations

Predicting epidemics of infectious diseases with drones x AI

In the INFUSE program, SORA Technology proposed an effort to predict the epidemic of infectious diseases in developing countries by combining drones and AI.
Using a fixed-wing drone designed by SORA Technology and its unique image analysis technology, it classifies and predicts the risk of infectious diseases from images of water bodies such as puddles taken by the drone.
Since vaccines must be supplied to areas and communities that have determined that an infectious disease will spread in the near future ahead of the outbreak, the system will provide the necessary information to GAVI, the main supplier of vaccines.

Presentation by Vice President Umeda

What is GAVI?

This organization aims to enhance the equity of children’s rights to receive vaccinations and to improve the global vaccine gap by connecting low-income countries, where many children die from preventable infectious diseases due to a lack of vaccination opportunities, with donor countries, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the vaccine industry, research and technical institutions, and civil society groups.
This is a public-private partnership established in Switzerland in 2000. Since 2000, it is estimated that more than 500 million children have been vaccinated, saving over 7 million lives.

About SORA Technology

With the mission of “Transforming the way people live from space (SORA)”, we will realize “a safe and prosperous society anywhere in the world” through air mobility such as drones.
It is a startup that uses drones and AI to combat malaria, one of the world’s largest infectious diseases.