Meet the Innovators
The bAWARE team is a unique blend of world-leading conservationism, falconry and raptor rehabilitation for more than 60 years in Africa and far beyond, and a passion for technology, lateral thinking and uniting global experts around a worthy cause.
Gunter Schoech
Gunter is an engineer, entrepreneur, cosmopolitan, raptor enthusiast and hobby falconer. His early childhood passion for raptors never left him through a career since the last millennium in the electrical industry, strategy consulting and founding his own companies in the UK, Germany and China. Today, he is the driving force behind advancing bAWARE's technology and business.
Simon was one of his "childhood heroes" known from TV programs by National Geographic and BBC. Wishing to support Simon's cause in any way, shape or form possible, Gunter went to Kenya to find out on site.
Gunter lives in Germany and France.
Simon Thomsett
Simon has 60+ years of front-line field experience as a legendary and unyielding raptor and wildlife conservationist, climber, bush pilot, veterinary surgeon and true "Swiss army knife" for living off-grid. Many thousands of injured, poisoned or sick raptors have gone through his extremely capable hands, rehabilitating and releasing all that could be, and looking after those who could not. Since early childhood, Simon developed and improved techniques of preventing and curing, always having to rely on modest available means on site. Nonetheless, his incredible ingenuity allowed him to achieve many world's firsts in his field. The Raptor Research Foundation honoured him with its Partners for Raptors Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Simon lives and works off grid in the Soysambu Conservancy.
Au Kenya, l’opiniâtre travail de sauvegarde des rapaces: a portrait of Simon in La Provence (AFP, 10 May 2024, in French).
How it all started
When these 2 men with such different backgrounds of complementary experiences met, and debated their shared passion and goal when meeting in Kenya 2024, they faced a conundrum: The math just did not work. The efforts by conservationists, policy makers and utilities in Africa over decades could not stem the steep decline of raptor populations. While every individual saved by Simon bought some time and hope, time was running out nonetheless. And Gunter could provide little help in terms of "more of the same". It was time for something groundbreaking, a game changer that would use both their unique strengths.
Both being used to thinking way outside the box, pragmatic and result-driven, as well as tenacious till the mission is accomplished, they started to ask: What if we flipped the entire logic around, and made the bird safe? Raptors can't wear insulating rubber boots, but could they maybe be persuaded not to approach the dangers? But how to persuade them, if the known ways for that without exception involve fixing something to the infrastructure? It must be infrastructure independent, as anywhere where the utilities do cooperate, retrofitting poles with insulating elements is already the gold standard, there is just way too little of that happening, way too slowly. But if the warning must be on the bird itself, how does a device "know" about the danger ahead? Could we harness the electromagnetic fields around powerlines as involuntary antennae that give away their presence? Then pure physics would suffice.
This is when it made "click". Solving this engineering task, and bringing such technology to life, plays to Gunter's strengths. Hardware and software development, electronics manufacturing and distribution supply chain etc. can be accomplished from "off grid" conditions as little as Gunter in Europe could help Simon perform surgery on an injured bird in Africa. It was one of those very rare, but beautiful moments, when a single thought all of a sudden turns several problems into a single solution, and all the pieces fall into place.
