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Product cover image for Zipline Drones: Diffusion of AI-Based Innovations in Health Care Systems

Zipline Drones: Diffusion of AI-Based Innovations in Health Care Systems

Mahdi Tajeddin, Hadi Eslami, Yasser Rahrovani

Product #:W46631
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:General Management, Information Systems
Setting:Rwanda, 2023
Details:Case (PDF) • 11 pages • 2025-10-20

Subjects:

AI and machine learning

Industries:

Healthcare sector

Geography:

RwandaAfrica
Your Price:$9.71

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In 2016, Zipline International Inc. (Zipline) launched the world’s first national drone delivery service in Rwanda, using artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems to transport blood and vaccines across remote regions. By 2023, its “sky ambulances” had become an integral part of health care logistics, credited with reducing maternal deaths and medical waste. Yet, with new competition, evolving regulations, and rising interest from commercial markets, Zipline’s leadership faced a critical decision. Should the company double-down on its life-saving health care mission, expand into new countries, or pivot towards consumer and retail delivery? And how would regulators, investors, and communities respond?

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for undergraduate- and graduate-level core courses in strategy, technology management, fundamentals of AI for business, entrepreneurship, and information systems. It can also be used in electives on innovation management or digital transformation, particularly those focused on how emerging technologies interact with regulatory systems, infrastructure constraints, and cross-sector adoption dynamics.

By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:
  • Apply diffusion of innovation theory to a radical AI-enabled service innovation in an emerging market context
  • Evaluate the conditions under which an innovation can move to mainstream acceptance
  • Differentiate types of adopters based on their motivations, risk tolerance, and role in shaping innovation trajectories
  • Distinguish nuances in diffusion of AI-based systems vs. fixed-function innovations
  • Develop strategies to cross the chasm between early adopters to early majority and scaling into the mainstream market
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Case Study: Zipline Drones: Diffusion of AI-Based Innovations in Health Care Systems (English version) | Ivey Publishing