TECHNOLOGY
“ THE FIRST IMPORTANT THING TO ME IS RAISING AWARENESS THAT THIS IS AN ISSUE AND THAT EVERYBODY CAN TAKE ACTION ”
CLAUDIO PARRINELLO CEO , PLANETWATCH
side . I set up a consulting firm there at the beginning of the 2000s . Then I actually joined CERN with managerial appointments , and , eventually , I became the head of technology transfer .”
In 2012 , Parrinello co-founded his first tech startup , involving sensors and robotics . Later , he got interested in blockchain technologies , which led to
PlanetWatch in 2020 , where Parrinello was able to marry technology with his interest in air pollution .
PlanetWatch ’ s air quality sensor data sits on an environmentally-friendly blockchain network that has a highly valued reputation for being carbon-neutral : Algorand . PlanetWatch decentralises reliable air quality monitoring and focuses on collecting only high quality data .
“ To give the broader context , the World Health Organisation says that there are seven million premature deaths per year worldwide that are related to air pollution . This is impressive yet terrible . But then , when you learn that 90 % of children worldwide are exposed to air that doesn ' t meet minimal WHO standards , then it ' s even worse .” healthcare-digital . com 91