Learn how the InstaGeo team led the way in AI for Social Good at the AI Action Summit in Paris, where their work is gaining recognition for its tangible impact.
As we step into 2025, the world continues to face complex challenges—climate change, food insecurity, and the urgent need for sustainable solutions. At InstaDeep, we believe that AI has the power to address these pressing issues and create a brighter future for communities worldwide.
A key part of this vision is InstaGeo, an open-source geospatial machine learning framework that’s helping to build actionable solutions for climate adaptation, and changing lives for the better. Recognised by the Paris Peace Forum as one of the top 50 projects out of 770 submissions in their ‘Call for AI Projects’ supporting AI for public good, we’re proud to have been selected and look forward to sharing more about the potential of the technology with international leaders and experts attending the AI Action Summit. See InstaGeo being featured on stage at the summit here.
Why InstaGeo Matters
For millions in Africa, early disaster prediction isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. Climate-driven locust swarms have devastated crops, wiped out livelihoods, and pushed entire communities to the brink of famine. According to the World Bank, these swarms can travel up to 90 miles every day, consuming enough food to feed 35,000 people. The 2020 locust plague alone caused damages of up to $8.5 billion1 across East Africa and Yemen.
For years, predicting locust outbreaks has hinged on the expertise of a few specialists who have spent decades acquiring invaluable knowledge. Yet, this labor-intensive process is slow, often inconsistent, and hard to scale. When that expertise fades, the ability to respond and act in time is jeopardized.
InstaGeo addresses these challenges by establishing a sustainable, repeatable system that uses AI to break down barriers for social good. Using data from the Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 medium and high-resolution multispectral imaging satellites, InstaGeo predicts locust breeding grounds with remarkable accuracy. By streamlining remote sensing workflows, InstaGeo empowers local communities, governments, and organizations to take early action before disasters strike.
The people behind InstaGeo
Behind every great innovation are the passionate experts who brought their ideas to life.
InstaDeep’s Staff Research Scientist Arnu Pretorius and Research Engineer Ibrahim Yusuf, both from our Kigali office, lead the InstaGeo team with a shared mission to harness AI for social good, turning innovative ideas into actual solutions that protect communities and transform lives.
“We believe InstaGeo is a step toward using AI to drive meaningful change,” says Ibrahim. “Being recognised among the top AI solutions at the Paris Peace Forum is an honour, and we look forward to sharing our work with policymakers, innovators, and communities worldwide.”
What’s Next?
On 10 February, the InstaGeo team joined the AI Action Summit in Paris to meet with the international leaders, businesspeople and thinkers attending, and to share how their open-source framework simplifies remote sensing workflows for practical use-cases. On-hand at our booth in the summit’s “Space for Solutions”, our researchers engaged with attendees, fielding questions big and small on how InstaGeo can benefit at-risk communities around the world.
A highlight of the event was reconnecting with Thani Mohamed-Soualihi, Minister of State for Francophonie and International Partnerships, following his attendance at GeoAI Hack. We also exchanged ideas with Xavier Lhote from the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Gaurav Godhwani, Director and Co-Founder of CivicDataLab, Fabrice Zapfack, CEO of Data354, and Dr. Mounir Ghogho, Professor at the Université Internationale de Rabat and IEEE Fellow, gaining valuable insights into InstaGeo’s potential applications across regions and the importance of international collaboration for AI solutions.
The discussions will continue on 11 February with InstaGeo selected to participate at the “AI for Development: Solutions for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future.” event. Organized in partnership with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Expertise France, and Togo’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation, the session will bring together African and French policymakers, industry leaders, and AI experts. The InstaGeo team will be joining a discussion on digital sovereignty and AI ethics in developing countries as we share more on InstaGeo’s current capabilities and future potential.
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Through initiatives like InstaGeo and platforms like the AI Summit, we continue to share what we’ve learned—bridging AI research and community action for social impact.
If you’re attending, join the global conversation on AI for good and help shape the future of AI-driven solutions for a better world. Meet the brilliant minds behind InstaGeo at booth 26 at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on 11 February 2025.
1 World Bank Group. Available at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/the-world-bank-group-and-the-desert-locust-outbreak#1
