Aërlink

In recent times as the second wave of the SARS-Cov-2 virus has engulfed the globe, a significant ascent in the trade of fake medications and unregistered healthcare equipment has been recorded. 

According to WHO, approximately one in 10 medical products in low- and middle-income countries is falsified. Unregulated websites and black-market shops, that allow individuals to purchase drugs without a prescription, make these products accessible around the world.

This substantial influx of medications and healthcare equipment counterfeits have resulted in a significant loss of life.

Our blockchain-based decentralized framework aims to provide the consumer with complete knowledge regarding the product (medicines, healthcare equipment etc.) which they are about to buy and update them about the product's authenticity. 

Since blockchains are immutable, once the product is pushed on the blockchain then it is impossible to tamper with it for falsifying the records, this makes our system trustworthy, reliable and counterfeit free.

Every year millions of lives succumb to the counterfeit industry, specifically dealing in medicines and healthcare equipment.

Each year, an estimated 250,000 children around the world die as a result of fake malaria and pneumonia drugs alone. Low-quality or counterfeit vaccines, antibodies and medical equipment contribute to further deaths.

In nations like India where the second wave of COVID-19 struck the hardest, witnessed significant growth in the number of unregistered and fake drugs and medical equipment. 

Essential medications required for the treatment of critical  COVID-19 patients, like Remdesivir, Ivermectin, Medrol, oxygen cylinders, oximeters etc. are being sold in the black market at insanely high prices and that too without any assurance about the product’s authenticity.

A regulatory system is the need of the hour, that can maintain the record of the multitude of products (medicines and healthcare equipment) manufactured by a specific organization. 

That is where Aërlink comes in as it will aid in the verification of the authentic product, therefore, keeping a check on the black market industry.

We have designed a blockchain-based decentralized system to which the product details can be added during the manufacturing and packaging stage. Once the product along with its uniquely identifiable properties is added to the blockchain, a QR/NFC code would be generated based on the organization’s requirements. The QR labels (with tamper-evident coating) can then be placed by the manufacturer itself on the product, which when scanned by the customer will verify the authenticity of the product. The system will only deem the product as authentic if it is registered by the organization itself on our blockchain (corresponding to the unique org ID provided to them). The immutability of the blockchain will eliminate the problem of counterfeits and will demolish the black market, as the counterfeit product sold in the black market can not be verified on the Aërlink blockchain, thus rendering it fake.

As of now, the general average consumer is the one who takes the fall for all these illegal trades surrounding pharmaceuticals and healthcare equipment. The market is full of such counterfeits and it blooms every second because the average consumer does not possess sufficient knowledge of whether the product is authentic or not. Such issues of counterfeits are undermined and overlooked in times of crisis like covid-19 whereas such heinous crimes are on par with actual terrorism costing people their health and lives. 

Our solution aims to make the lives of the general consumer better by educating them about the product they are about to purchase. Our solution will provide the consumer with sufficient knowledge regarding the product which would help them distinguish between what is real and what is fake.

We aim to address the issue of counterfeits and fake substandard products which circulate in the market and cost people their health and lives.

Our solution particularly focuses on securing the health and lives of patients from such counterfeits, which can have a detrimental effect on health or sometimes leads to death. Apart from this, we also aim to reduce the circulation of fake pharmaceuticals and substandard equipment, which creates havoc in times of unfortunate disease outbreaks by allowing them to spread like a wildfire.

We consider our solution to be in its development/prototype stage. We are aiming for the global market as we feel that the whole world should benefit from Aërlink. This level of global scaling will require a substantial amount of time and resources, which we are trying to acquire at this moment.

We have developed the MVP and are working on the architecture of the application to scale it for a larger market.

The counterfeiting industry has existed for decades now, and no abiding solution has surfaced to date. In today's world, the problem we are tackling is usually solved by keeping a track of things in the databases, which are neither immutable nor transparent. Apart from this, there is hardly any trusted way for the user to check if the product they are purchasing is authentic or not.

Over the years, blockchain technology has seen a significant amount of development, and its implementation in the industry has grown exponentially, varying from simple currencies to complex real-life problems.

Aërlink is an innovative blockchain-based solution that creates a decentralized smart digital identity for real-world assets, providing them with a uniquely identifiable trait on the blockchain, proving their legitimacy, thus tackling the issue of counterfeits.

WHO's estimate shows that between 72,000 and 169,000 children may die from pneumonia every year after receiving counterfeit drugs and that fake anti-malarial medication might be responsible for an additional 116,000 deaths. Apart from this UK survey carried out by Sapio Research, concludes that almost one-third (32%) of those who have bought one or more counterfeit medicines have suffered a health issue as a result. Thus, we have a strong intuition that implementing Aërlink at a global scale will give us an upper hand in the war against counterfeit terrorism.

As of now, Aërlink solely focuses on the healthcare industry, but we aspire to expand it to other industry such as fashion, food retail and the agriculture industry.

Aërlink is still in its rudimentary phases. We have formulated and developed the MVP of our solution, however, it is still not ready for public use.

Future Objective:

Best Case Scenario: 

• We capture the complete market and reduce the influx of counterfeit medicines and substandard healthcare equipment across the globe.
• Expand Aërlink to other industries like Fashion and retail goods, to ensure the authenticity of the luxury premium brands and Items of daily use (eg - oil, bottled water etc.)

Realistic Case Scenario: 

• We capture a substantial amount of market and get in an official contract with at least one nation-state.

Worst Case Scenario: 

• We remain a small-time business restricted to a few brands and organizations. 

Since our Solution is still in its development stage and is yet to be scaled, so at this moment we do not have a well-developed measuring process like KPI. 

Out of the 17 goals associated with the UN Sustainable Development, our major areas of focus is in the following:

• Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. As healthcare disruptions like we saw during COVID-19 can reverse decades of improvements. Our product has the potential to save millions of lives which are lost every year due to counterfeit drugs. 
• Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Our solution can provide a proof of authenticity, which is helpful for brand protection, which can save Millions of dollars for our clients that might include small scale industries and help them survive in the market against counterfeits. 

Other factors that we assume as Key Performance Indicator in the upcoming stages would be:

• Customer Engagements (Number of verification queries we receive etc).
• Number of orgnaitization subscriptions.
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Month-on-Month growth
• Organic traffic and our awareness campaign reach.

Three people are currently working as active members of the Aërlink team. All three members are part-time, and we plan to convert full time as we scale the product.

Our team consist of highly skilled individuals coming from contrasting fields which are essential for the development of Aërlink.

Core Team : 

Shruti Lohani: She is a Computer Scientist working in IoT R&D at Nexess, France. She completed her M.Sc. from EURECOM, France and have 3 years of experience in the IoT domain. She is an aspiring blockchain development researcher and is looking forward to a PhD in this technical field.

Dewank Pant: He is a Security Engineer with NCC Group Inc. He graduated from and worked at Johns Hopkins University under the Information Security Track. He is skilled in IoT Security, Radio Hacking, Bot Development and Machine Learning. He has published several CVEs and holds 3+ years of work experience in the industry. He is an experienced cybersecurity analyst and has substantial experience in the field of blockchain security.

Akshat Joshi: He is a budding cybersecurity enthusiast and a blockchain researcher, with expertise in the field of Web Development and software engineering. He is currently pursuing B.tech from SRM institute of science and technology, Chennai and is looking forward to going for his masters in a similar field.

All members of our team come from a very humble background. The problem of counterfeit terrorism is something that we all face on a daily basis especially after the covid-19 scenario in India. We know and understand the gravity of this issue as we (our team) ourselves are a very small part of the large population that Aërlink intends to serve.

Diversity and Inclusion expert Verna Myers once said, “diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance”. Having a diverse workforce is one thing, but everyone needs to feel included.

Aërlink is a solution for the people by the people, We aim to decentralize health care for everyone. Our core management team agrees and corroborate the fact that our employees will be the backbone of our system. We also understand the fact that the inclusion of diversity will widen our perspective and will increase the rate of innovation.

Aërlink as a team will always be welcoming to the idea of diversity and will do its level best to make everyone feel included as we all are an equal part of this team.

We feel that our idea can bring a change in the current working model which is flawed, and it pays for these flaws with the lives of innocent. We are applying in the category of Healthcare and Pandemics Challenge as our solution is best suited for this category.

Furthermore, we would use the initial grant for scaling and making our solution a reality. Additionally, being a solver would provide Aërlink access to the MIT-backed network and community recognition, which are significant for the awareness campaign by which we want to educate people about the existence of our product as a life-saving technology. We intend to partner with drug manufacturers like Pfizer for our Proof-of-Authenticity solution. Additionally, we intend to partner with organizations like Twilio for making our solution scalable and accessible over text messages, making it available to regions with no internet access. Solve has a large network of organizations, and working with Solve staff and Members of Solve’s cross-sector social impact community would provide the required credibility and proof of legitimacy which a product needs in its initial stages of development. 

PS: We think MIT Solve can do to us what we do intend to do to the global healthcare industry (i.e. providing a proof-of-authenticity).

Our team does has a strong technology background, therefore, we feel comfortable building the whole solution ourselves. However, we would be very interested in getting more guidance in the following areas:

- Marketing and Awareness Campaign

- Improving our pitching for financial investors

- Accounting and Legal

We intend to partner with drug manufacturers like Pfizer for our Proof-of-Authenticity solution. Additionally, we intend to partner with organizations like Twilio for making our solution scalable and accessible over text messages, making it available to regions with no internet access.

Partnering with drug manufacturers who are a part of MIT solve's network would help us in testing the Aërlink platform in the initial phases, and to identify the pain points these organizations might be facing relating to our solution. 

During our research phase, we consulted the Director of JD Global (Drug manufacturer) and tried to understand the drawbacks of the existing solutions, which helped us in improving our product. Therefore, having access to such organizational partners can help in significant product improvement. 

The idea of Aërlink came into existence when we witnessed that thousands of people were being affected due to the existence of counterfeit medicines and substandard healthcare equipment, especially during covid-19. In such a crisis when the whole world was struggling to get through the pandemic, few malicious actors were making a fortune at the cost of the lives of innocent people. 

The war against counterfeit terrorism isn't new, it has been here for decades, and it is high time that we take a stand against it. Aërlink is a decentralized smart identity that aims to eliminate counterfeit medicines and substandard product from the market so that people can get authentic medicines and equipment.

Since our Solution directly targets one of the huge issues that exist in the healthcare industry and especially during the pandemic, we feel that we are qualified for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize. 

We would be utilizing this prize very consciously and meticulously. A substantial amount of this prize will be used for research and development, which would help us bring innovation over the period of time. The rest of the amount will go toward the maintenance and development of our technology and scaling it at a global level.

We aim to eliminate counterfeit medicines and substandard product from the market so that people can get authentic medicines and equipment. Our solution also offers supply chain security and maintenance, with blockchain technology, our client can track the product throughout the supply chain and can make sure that no sort of wrong is taking place, thus ensuring that the consumer gets the real product.

We have an AI-based customer service system that allows the user to access our services even in poor internet connectivity areas.

Since our Solution incorporates the use of artificial intelligence, we feel that we are qualified for The AI for Humanity Prize

We would be utilizing this prize very consciously and meticulously. A substantial amount of this prize will be used for research and development, which would help us bring innovation over the period of time. The rest of the amount will go toward the maintenance and development of our technology.

Our solution offers supply chain security and maintenance, with blockchain technology, our client can track the product throughout the supply chain and can make sure that no sort of wrong is taking place, thus ensuring that the consumer gets the real product.

Since our Solution also targets one of the huge issues that exist in the healthcare industry and especially during the pandemic, we feel that we are qualified for The Global Fund Prize

We would be utilizing this prize very consciously and meticulously. A substantial amount of this prize will be used for research and development, which would help us bring innovation over the period of time. The rest of the amount will go toward the maintenance and development of our technology.