A New Chapter for Papua New Guinea Flying Labs

Papua New Guinea Flying Labs opens a new chapter as the team departs from the Flying Labs Network. The team joined the Network in 2019 to work on solving local challenges through the development of local capacity in the use of appropriate technological tools such as drones. 

Papua New Guinea Flying Labs held a strong focus on youth training, initiating a STEAM program for children and youths in drone piloting, coding, mapping, analytics, and wellbeing. They played an essential role in their community during the COVID-19 lockdowns, running outreach programmes that combined safety and wellbeing awareness with coding and droning classes to provide an enjoyable and educational way to support children through the challenging period. 

Throughout their journey, we’ve celebrated the many milestones the team achieved and deeply appreciate the valuable contributions they brought to the Network. Their impact has also resonated beyond our community, particularly within Papua New Guinea’s broader drone ecosystem, for instance, through their Build-Fly-Pitch initiative during the inaugural Hack4Change event.

With their departure, the country license for Papua New Guinea is now open for application by organizations or companies interested in continuing this important work. We wish the outgoing team much success in their future endeavours, and we look forward to witnessing continued growth in the use of drones, data, and AI for social good across Papua New Guinea.