Scidrones P.C. Spinoff

The ocean receives solid waste from human activities, distributing the load widely, but not evenly. Floating marine plastics is a threatening problem for the world’s oceans. Marine plastic debris is tied to plastic production, which has grown exponentially over the last 70 years, from 1.7 million tonnes in 1950 to 322 million tonnes in 2015 (European Commission 2020). Remote sensing is one of the tools necessary for the detection of floating marine plastics because of the extensive area coverage and frequent observation. Our solution is the detection and monitoring of marine litter presence on coastal zones by creating marine litter density maps from aerial images using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. SciDrones P.S. is a private startup company located in Lesvos Island, Greece that has been founded in 2021, by a team of experts in coastal mapping. The founders have vast experience in remote sensing, geoinformatics, and Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) technologies. SciDrones is a natural result of 7 years of intensive academic research on UAS technology and visualization of the geoinformation in the coastal area. SciDrones’s main business focus is the mapping and quantification of emerging coastal phenomena through state-of-the-art sensors. Quantification includes artificial intelligence algorithms and dedicated spatiotemporal visualizations. SciDrones analytical tools transform remote sensing data into real Information that drives decision-making. The company has been awarded a grant from EIT Digital Venture Program 2021 and has just got the first prize in the Aegean Startups 2021-22 Awards. In addition, SciDrones is an alumnus of ACEin startup incubator in Athens, Greece.