Since the writing of this piece, the three OA competition winners have become NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs at NHS England and NHS Improvement
UK Space Agency competition success for Dulwich pupils past and present
PAGE 55
2019
MEDeus
Run by the government
This year I entered the SatelLife Competition, and was delighted to hear that I had won £5,000 to develop my concept for a fleet of drones to assist emergency services in London. The idea has two parts. Firstly, drones can be used to provide emergency healthcare support, such as defibrillators or clot-busting drugs, more quickly than an ambulance can. The second part of the project is for drones to assist with law enforcement. Autonomous drones will utilise machine-learning algorithms to detect threats, such as potential knife crime incidents, and will then deploy appropriate procedures. Whilst acting as a very effective deterrent for criminals, the drones will also prove incredibly helpful in pursuit situations and will form an active part of the police force. Some great opportunities have come from this competition. I was interviewed live on BBC London radio and presented in a Dragons’ Den event at the UK Space Agency, where I received advice for the idea as well as invaluable contacts. Both my brother and I believe that drones will have a huge impact on our future, and we hope that our ideas will contribute to the successful use of this incredible technology for the benefit of all. In 2018 my older brother, Thomas Franchi (05-16), alongside Hammad Jeilani (09-16) and Christopher Law (11-16), all OAs currently studying medicine, won the SatelLife Award. Using their prize money of £5,000 as a start-up fund, they formed their own company, MEDeus Ltd, with the aim of using the latest drone technologies to deliver medicine and medical equipment in routine and urgent clinical situations. Their innovative and imaginative proposal is time-efficient and cost- effective, bringing social, economic and environmental benefits to patients, and to the wider public. MEDeus has three arms. Firstly, its service allows for emergency equipment and blood products to be rapidly delivered to trauma patients, while providing verbal and visual connection to triage systems, even before ambulances arrive. Secondly, MEDeus provides GP practices with significantly cheaper and more frequent collection of pathology samples, improving patient safety and reducing unnecessary hospital visits. Finally, the transport of organ biopsies from retrieval sites allows for a quicker decision to accept or reject organs and thus quicker redistribution to other centres. The project, which is highly ambitious, faces many hurdles and regulatory challenges, but by working alongside some of the biggest names in the industry, such as the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the National Institute for Health Research and the Westcott Business Incubation Centre, the team believes that MEDeus drones could be operational in the near future.
together with the UK Space Agency, the SatelLife Competition seeks to encourage young people to develop innovative proposals which use space and technology to improve human life on earth.
‘A fleet of drones to assist
emergency services in London’
‘I was delighted to hear that I had won £5,000 to take my own concept further’
Our second feature from the Alleynian is by Luca Franchi, (Year 13), winner of the UK Space Agency SatelLife competition, whose idea of using drone technology to assist the London emergency services, impressed the judges, winning him prize money of £5,000 to take his idea further.
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