Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Shortlists Indian Drone Innovator Aereo to Showcase at Annual Meeting in Egypt
Hyderabad: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the second-largest multilateral development institution, selected three global companies to showcase their innovative solutions at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Egypt, from September 25th to 26th, 2023. Aereo was the sole drone solutions provider, and the only Indian company shortlisted for this prestigious event.
Aereo’s Co-founder and CEO, Vipul Singh, took centre stage during the venture capitalist showcase to illustrate how drone solutions can revolutionize sustainable infrastructure development on a global scale. This recognition also secures Aereo’s position as a key participant in AIIB’s upcoming infrastructure technology platform.
Aereo’s inclusion in a global infrastructure summit represents India’s rapidly growing drone tech ecosystem. The liberalization and incentivizing of the industry have opened several avenues for drone adoption across industries. This has also prompted the R&D of various technologies that have led to the development of highly innovative solutions.
AIIB, an esteemed institution boasting 97 member countries, including India, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and many others, embarked on its mission to build green infrastructure for tomorrow (i4t) in 2016. To date, AIIB has invested approximately USD 45.04 billion across 236 projects.
The selection process for this showcase specifically targeted startups that have made substantial contributions to technology-enabled infrastructure development with a profound societal impact. Starting as an incubate at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in 2013, Aereo has carved a unique niche over the last decade and is now leading the end-to-end solutions segment. Their impressive track record includes mapping the largest geography in the world using drones in the state of Haryana in India covering 27,000 sq. Kms. They have cumulatively mapped over 15 million acres of land, covering 45,000+ villages, and facilitating efficient development of large-scale infrastructure projects, ultimately touching the lives of over 120 million people.
Aereo’s versatile solutions address real-world challenges such as construction progress monitoring, tracking Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the grassroots level, land parcel mapping, mine digitalization to enhance efficiency, safety, environmental compliance monitoring, and enabling smart watershed development.
The importance of developing sustainable infrastructure cannot be overstated, as it plays a pivotal role in managing carbon footprints, preserving valuable resources, and fostering economic growth across nations, especially the developing economies. Aereo’s innovative use of drone-powered intelligence demonstrates that project management can be seamlessly executed with enhanced efficiency and high-resolution data.
Vipul Singh, co-founder and CEO of Aereo, stated, “We would like to thank the esteemed panel of jury at AIIB for giving us this opportunity and a global stage to showcase our vision for drone-powered green infrastructure. This is a significant milestone for Aereo, and we look forward to sharing the profound impact of drone solutions beyond our borders. Aereo has strived to build solutions that challenge the status quo and foster innovation at every stage. Drones and aerial intelligence are fundamental technologies that will help us deal with t climate change, enable disaster resilience and propel sustainable infrastructure development anywhere on the planet.”