Airly Brings Precision Analytics to Air Quality Monitoring — IoT Tech Trends

One of the best parts of being a tech journalist is when I discover startups with either an interesting product or a problem they are trying to solve. I first came across Polish startup Airly in Krakow in 2016 at a Google startup event. I wrote about the company — it was CEO and co-founder Wiktor Warchałowski’s first interview in English.

The company is using IoT tech to monitor and track air pollution. As an Australian, I have a personal interest in air quality. Every year during bushfire season, I see photos of my friends wearing masks to protect themselves from the bushfire smoke and ash that can spread for miles. Almost everyone I know suffers from asthma or hay fever.

Poor air quality kills

According to the World Health Organization, 9 of 10 people are breathing polluted air. WHO estimates that around 7 million people die each year from exposure to diseases associated with air pollution, as they affect the respiratory and cardiovascular system.

Last year in inner-South London, a coroner made legal history by ruling that air pollution was the cause of death of a 9-year-old girl who died from asthma. Ella Kissi-Debrah lived in Lewisham, where dioxide emissions exceeded legal limits — both EU and national levels. Particle…