IslamicFinance.de

In 2013, a 26-year-old Syrian called Dishad Othman built a system to warn his countrymen when a Scud missile launched by the regime was headed their way. The system, called Aymta, calculated the trajectory and likely arrival time, and sent mobile alerts to registered civilians inside the strike zone. Aymta is part of the fledgling field of Peacetech, which applies technology, media tools, and data science to the cause of reducing violent conflict around the globe. Both conflict prevention and peacebuilding have been fields of academic study and practical application since the 1970s but technology has rarely played a part in either. Sheldon Himelfarb, President and CEO of PeaceTech Lab, thinks it should.