WasteShark India Short general project overviewIt is estimated that at least 54% of Indians suffer from high to very high water scarcity. A large part of the population has to cope without connection to sewerage systems and running water. Because the population does not have access to the right facilities, a lot of waste is dumped into surface water. As a result, rivers become heavily polluted and the quality of the living environment deteriorates. Water pollution also leads to diseases and epidemics. Currently, there is no effective and/or safe way to actively remove waste from the water. The WasteShark is a (semi-)autonomous intelligent solution that removes waste from waters without the need for active human intervention. The WasteShark can be used in two ways, manually and autonomously. Before entering the Indian market, the consortium opted for a semi-autonomous approach whereby the WasteShark can be controlled in a simplistic way via a controller from the shore. As a result, the WasteShark does not have a negative impact on employment. In fact, there is a job creation because of the chain approach with recycling partners. Before the recycling partners can apply the waste in their process, the waste on the shore must be separated.Initial activities and results of the projectIt is about improving the water quality of the water and thus water safety. Within this project are two primary groups that are considered beneficiaries: 1. Local Indian public authorities and port authorities. They are primarily responsible for the water quality and waste disposal and are therefore primary potential customers;2. Population of India. The amount of waste in the water is reduced by the application of the WasteShark, which improves water quality and water safety The objective of the pilot project is to convince potential users of the sustainable added value of the WasteShark by demonstrating the effectiveness and safety for people and the environment in different areas of India compared to current methods of waste collection. Within this project, the WasteShark will be demonstrated to potential customers at four completely different pilot sites. With the execution of the pilots, various results are expected. The most important ones are below:- Participation of at least 60 potential customers from the target country and 10 potential customers from surrounding countries. The objective is to have at least 15 potential customers participate per pilot.- At least 15 participants have a direct interest in investing in the WasteShark after the pilot ends. Sales of first WasteSharks immediately after completion of the pilot. A proposed decision of the parties in which the pilots take place is included in the attached LOIs.- All the advantages of the WasteShark over conventional methods have been treated and demonstrated both in theory and in practice.- After completion of the pilots, there are concrete agreements to have the chain approach conclusive.What makes the technology, product, method or approach used innovativeThe innovation of the WasteShark lies in the intelligent and continuous disposal of waste through high-tech technology. The WasteShark detects waste and can communicate with other WasteSharks, allowing them to learn from each other and control each other if one of the WasteSharks encounters a large amount of waste. Intelligent means that the WasteShark is self-learning through the use of machine learning, making it ever smarter in waste disposal. Based on historical data, communication with other WasteSharks and external factors, a prediction model can be used to estimate where the waste accumulates. Algorithmics are adapted to the weather forecast, currents and tides. Communication between the WasteSharks is via a centralized database. The mutual communication is crucial, this coordination ensures that they each edit a specific sector and thus can effectively control an area.