Patrick Meier Executive Director, WeRobotics
Over the past 15+ years, Patrick has worked in 30+ countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America as well as the Caribbean and the South Pacific. This work comprised a wide range of humanitarian technology projects with multiple international organizations including the United Nations, Red Cross, World Bank and 30+ other organizations. In 2010, Patrick was publicly praised by President Clinton for his pioneering humanitarian technology deployments, which he continues to this day at WeRobotics.
Patrick leads two sector programs at WeRobotics: Public Health and Humanitarian Aid. On the former, Patrick has designed, spearheaded and/or coordinated a number of operational medical cargo drone projects for public health since 2016. This has included delivery drone deployments and training in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, Dominican Republic, Nepal, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Madagascar. In addition, Patrick has co-authored the most detailed and transparent reports on delivery drone deployments for public health. He also spearheaded the development of the Code of Conduct for the use of cargo drones in public health.
Patrick has served as a Fellow at MIT Solve, Stanford, Harvard, Rockefeller Foundation, UBS Global Visionaries, UNICEF Innovations and National Geographic. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC News, UK Guardian, The Economist, Forbes & Times Magazines, New Yorker, NPR, Newsweek, Wired, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Nature, New Scientist, Scientific American & elsewhere. Patrick holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Pre-Doc from Stanford and an MA from Columbia University. He is also an alum of the Santa Fe Institute. Patrick has created and taught several undergraduate, graduate and professional courses. He is well published across multiple disciplines.
Patrick is also an internationally sought-out speaker, having given over 200 talks in more than 40 countries across 6 continents. He has spoken at the Obama White House, UN, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Skoll World Forum, Club de Madrid, Mobile World Congress, Web Summit, PopTech, National Geographic, Thinking Digital, TTI/Vanguard, SXSW and has given multiple TEDx talks. His influential blog iRevolutions has received over 2 million hits. Patrick holds a CASA certified drone pilot license and was born & raised in Africa.