Air Quality Measurement: a fascinating lineage
Cairo: ideas through the smog
Our CEO and co-founder, Karim Tarraf, grew up in Cairo – a city displaying all of the typical traits of an emerging economy when it comes to air quality and health. His vision was to be able capture and visualize air quality data in such a way as to make it accessible to the population in developing countries, enabling cities and affected citizens take action to curb air pollution, improving health and quality of life.
Raw Meat & Canary Birds
Here at Hawa Dawa we follow an interesting lineage; from raw meat used in the 9th Century to detect the lowest levels of ambient pollution and thus situate a hospital; to canary birds who fell out of usage for detecting carbon monoxide in mining in the 1980s. In 2018, we’re not leaving it to chance: our data is gathered using a combination of proprietary IoT networks of gas sensors in the field and highly complex machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence. The output is a reliable, comprehensive, real-time ‘heatmap’ of air pollution. A map that enables cities to be innovative, dynamic and targeted in the measures they employ to combat pollutant levels. No one else is offering this combination of bottom-up and top-down measurement: a viable, low-cost, digital alternative to costly official stations; a new digital value chain based on the commodity of environmental data.
Looking to the future in 2018
We are proud that almost 13 centuries after the first physicians recognized the value of understanding where and how air pollution affects lives, Hawa Dawa is able to offer the first reliable digital solution to measuring air quality, providing actionable insights to enable citizens, cities and companies understand and mitigate for the dangerous and costly effects of air pollution.
