Our Top Ten Highlights of 2024

As the year comes to a close, we’re proud to reflect on our "Top Ten" of  milestones and achievements that we are most grateful and happy to have achieved collectively in 2024:

Southern Africa Drones, AI, and GIS Disaster Risk Management Conference
Together with South Africa Flying Labs and Esri, we co-organized the first regional Southern Africa Drones, AI, and GIS Disaster Risk Management Conference and Workshop. GPSDD, Wingtra and Lenovo supported the conference through sponsorship.

Kenya's First Co-Creation Workshop on Drone Regulations
We hosted Kenya's first-ever co-creation workshops on drone regulations in Nairobi. Over three days, diverse stakeholders—including representatives from commercial companies, civil society, academia, government services, STEM educators, and private drone pilots—came together to co-create a comprehensive overview of drone usage in Kenya, the challenges faced, and potential solutions. In partnership with Deloitte D2i, we were then able to summarize the workshop outcomes into actionable recommendations for regulators and policymakers, aimed at advancing Kenya’s drone regulations based on locally-produced and locally-relevant data.

Participation and Speaking at Numerous Events and Conferences
We had the privilege of speaking at a variety of impactful conferences, workshops, and events, including the 2024 SME Day organized by the International Labour Organization in Geneva, the 12th ICT4D Conference in Ghana, the Marmalade Festival at the Skoll World Forum together with HOTOSM and #TheSidebar on Economic Localization and Development Strategies, , Catalysing Change Week of Catalyst 2030, the SAS learning event on communicating responsible transitions to local communities and ending the year on a high note with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship’s annual community convening at Oxford.

Our Glocalization Model Adoption 
Three forward-thinking organizations have adopted or begun adopting our Glocalization Model: Ciber Voluntarios, Urban Better, and Aiducation.

WeRobotics Team Retreat
From September 9-13, our team, made up of 12 people from 6 continents, gathered in Switzerland for an in-person team retreat. As a fully remote team working across time zones, this was an incredible opportunity to finally come together face-to-face.

Two Regional Flying Labs Retreats
We held two in-person regional Flying Labs retreats: one in Stellenbosch, South Africa, which brought together representatives from eight Flying Labs in the Southern Africa region, and another in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, which brought together representatives from nine Flying Labs in the Latin America and The Caribbean region.

Launch of the Flying Labs Network Council
We launched the Flying Labs Network Council, consisting of nine members representing five geographic regions. This council plays an advisory and contributive role in shaping Network strategy, operational decision-making, and development.

Two New Website Launches
In January and October, we launched new websites for WeRobotics and Flying Labs, respectively. These platforms boast modern designs, intuitive navigation, enhanced performance, and improved accessibility, even in low-bandwidth environments.

Forbes Recognition and Global Leadership Award for our Co-Founder Sonja Betschart
Our co-founder, Sonja Betschart, received two prestigious accolades in 2024: she was named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 List in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and was honored with the Global Leadership Award by Women in Tech® Europe. Sonja attributed these awards to the collective efforts of her colleagues at WeRobotics and Flying Labs.

New Board Members
We welcomed Adriana Espinel Sánchez, Prof. Jonathan Makuwira, and Lorenzo Martelletti to our Board of Directors. They bring a wealth of experience, a diversity of skills, and a shared commitment to our mission of amplifying the Power of Local.

We’re deeply grateful to our partners. Thank you William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Frey Charitable Foundation, Fondation Botnar and Eurofins Foundation for your generous support. And thank you Esri, Pix4D, Deloitte D2I, Beluga Linguistics, Crowdin, ProZ ProBono and Autodesk for your incredible in-kind and pro-bono support throughout 2024. 

We’re also sincerely thankful to the Flying Labs Network, our dedicated team members, and our board members for their unwavering commitment and support.

Here’s to creating an even greater impact together in 2025!