Ethiopia Flying Labs Aims to Train the Next-Generation of Scientists, Engineers

Ethiopia Flying Labs—launching today—believes that their country's youth will play an integral role in solving the country’s challenges. The team is introducing their communities to easy-to-use, accessible technology solutions capable of revolutionizing agricultural practices through precision agriculture and education with the introduction of hands-on STEM training. The team has already opened four youth centers and plans to open a research, incubation, and training center to help address community challenges.

The team is led by Yesunew Hailu, a vice president at the FARIS Technology Institute. FARIS is the pioneering aerospace, robotics, rocketry, and artificial intelligence institute in Ethiopia, providing short-term courses, after-school programs, and STEM education and competitions. One of the team’s proudest moments came from the launch of ETRSS-1, the first low-earth remote sensing satellite launched by the Ethiopian Space Technology Institute. This underscores Ethiopia Flying Labs’ belief in its mission: to educate, inspire, and train the next generation of scientists and engineers—local experts solving the nation’s problems through local ingenuity and know-how. Ethiopia Flying Labs' mission will manifest as training programs on aerospace education, robotics, and artificial intelligence by partnering with NGOs and universities to teach youth in hands-on scenarios using drones and programming. Thousands of students have already been trained by the team behind the Flying Labs over the past five years, establishing bona fides as STEM educators in Ethiopia.

As the team’s portfolio expands, they plan to:

• Carry out pilot projects and research using drones in agriculture, education, and public health. For example, the team recently completed a pilot project testing drone-based, large-scale pesticide spraying with the Ministry of Agriculture and is also developing a hybrid VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) blood delivery drone in partnership with ESSTI.
• Organize different ecosystem events and activities to facilitate and contribute to building enabling environment. These will include webinars and conference sessions on Drone Economic Use & Job creation, Drone Policy Recommendations, Drone for Agriculture, and Drone Curriculum & Capacity Development with partner universities.
• Advocate and recommend policies and frameworks to contribute to building enabling environment for drone operation. The team is co-organizing the ‘’Drone Startups Taskforce & Coalition’’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation & Technology.

Stay tuned to our blog for more from Ethiopia Flying Labs, and join us in welcoming them to the Global Flying Labs Network!