The Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park) is collaborating with UK-based start-up 'Ideabatic' to assist in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries across the world.

Ideabatic has developed an award-winning solution called SMILE with the aim of solving logistics problems in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across developing countries. SMILE is a smart last-mile vaccine cooling system that is aimed at reducing vaccine wastage by solving logistics issues in remote areas - with and without the infrastructure to store the vaccine - in both developed and developing countries. It will also help those individuals who cannot travel to vaccination centres in various regions.

SMILE seeks to provide effective and efficient means of transporting COVID-19 vaccines on foot, in vehicles, bicycles, donkeys or canoes in various regions, along with providing reliable storage for large-scale testing. The solution is a cost-effective, portable carrier that provides constant cool storage to COVID-19 vaccines in order to solve the problem of any vaccine damage due to heat exposure in transit.

The science and engineering behind the SMILE portable carrier is that it is a freeze-free and fail-safe solution that aims to reduce vaccine wastage to less than 5 percent. It will keep vaccines and bio-samples at a stable temperature for 3 to 6 days even when they are in use by using a bespoke icepack and patented air-locking system.

Speaking about the initiative, Kitty C. Liao, founder and CEO of Ideabatic and Enterprise Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering UK, said that SMILE will keep the vaccines cool for much longer such that there will be no need for electricity or external power when in use.

"Smile’s all-in-one travel jacket improves vaccination efficiency and minimizes vaccine breakage over tough terrains,” Liao added.

She also underlined the urgent need for working on improving the broken vaccine cold-chain in remote settings in developing countries, even without a pandemic. In view of the post-pandemic economic recovery, she called for a shift towards tackling vaccination distributions problems at the centre stage.

SRTI Park CEO Hussain Al Mahmoudi also noted that Ideabatic’s last-mile solution in vaccine supply chain management and transportation will have a strong and much-needed humanitarian impact globally, particularly in remote places which are facing challenges in potential vaccine distribution.