Revolutionary, free, open-source software under development for mobile telephones, letting them communicate even in the absence of phone towers and other supporting infrastructure.The Serval Project consists of two systems. The first is a temporary, self-organising, self-powered mobile network for disaster areas, formed with small phone towers dropped in by air. The second is a permanent system for remote areas that requires no infrastructure and creates a mesh-based phone network between Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, and eventually specially designed mobile phones that can operate on other unlicensed frequencies, called Batphone. The two systems can also be combined.

Special thanks to Romain Bochet, and Cédric Biard from HEC (France) for spotting this innovation.