Some of the world’s greatest problems are simply symptoms of poverty. Yet well-intentioned Western aid often creates unintended consequences - creating more problems, rather than fixing them. Infrastructure aid - specifically, bringing the internet to the poorest parts of the world - can change this narrative, allowing communities to grow and thrive. The internet has become the greatest tool for individual and economic liberation the world has ever seen - and continuously-flying drones could expand internet access to the 49% of the world that currently lives without it.

Filmed September 19th, 2020 at Dogwood Coffee NE in Minneapolis. Rahul Tiwari is CEO of Spooky Action, a global robotics firm that builds the longest flying drones in the world and uses them to bring the internet to remote areas. A college dropout, Rahul left his engineering program at Purdue in 2017 to design and prototype a tethered anti-poaching watchtower drone that was deployed in South Africa only two months after the initial idea was conceived. His heavy-lift aircraft are used to provide internet coverage after disasters, for events and to support rural communities across the planet. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx