Uttam Pudasaini

Uttam is a social-tech entrepreneur who has been working in Nepal since 2014 on the design and development of spatial and digital technologies to address local development challenges and disaster management issues. A week after graduation, he and two other classmates co-founded NAXA (www.naxa.com.np), a Geo-ICT service provider company which has now grown to a team of more than 50 young people who are working on a variety of projects and activities centred on civic technology, data (open data, open geographical data), and digital technologies for development and disaster management. With his role as an Executive Director of Nepal Flying Labs, the first Flying Lab under the international Flying Labs Network, he has been leading drones for crisis mapping, disaster resilience, and improved public health activities since the 2015 Nepal earthquake. The Flying Labs initiative began in Nepal after the Nepal earthquake and now exists in 30+ countries mostly from the Global south. Uttam has been engaged in the localization of modern technologies, capacity building, and technology transfer training in distant sites throughout Nepal and beyond, with the basic idea that technology and innovation can greatly contribute to greater job opportunities and development in Nepal. He has experience working with development agencies, civic society, and business organizations to design and implement digital technologies for social good and development challenges in remote Nepal.