DJI’s vice president for policy and legal affairs has called on drone pilots in the UK to get involved with local and regional governments on regulation and legislation. In an exclusive interview with CDP at AirWorks, Brendan Schulman stressed how important it was for users to show the good they are doing with drones. Schulman, a prominent drone and aviation lawyer before he began his work at DJI, said: “I think we are doing well but it’s a lot of hard work and effort but of course it is always helpful to have the actual users engaged and talking to
A leading expert in UAV analysis has warned that further consolidation is on the horizon for the drone industry, which could force a wave of mergers and bankruptcies in the sector following the sale of the assets of Airware earlier this week. Philip Finnegan, director of corporate analysis at Teal Group, said that the end of Airware, one of the most promising venture-capital funded startups highlighted the ‘looming’ consolidation ahead, in an article written for Forbes. Airware unexpectedly shut down last month, leaving around 120 employees without jobs after the startup’s £92m in funding dried up. Supplier of commercial drone
Entrepreneurs and start-up businesses across sectors have been urged to consider crowdfunding websites to fund their new companies, rather than just relying on traditional investors or venture capitalists. New research into crowdfunding from the UCL School of Management claims that listening to investors at the start of a new business ‘can make the difference between success and failure’. Former PhD student Philipp Cornelius, who is now an assistant professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and associate professor Bilal Gokpinar from the UCL School of Management, found that entrepreneurs that used online crowdfunding to raise capital benefited from the
Managing director of Skyports, Duncan Walker, believes the UK could see passenger carrying drones sooner rather than later, and they could come even before drone delivery services. In an exclusive interview with Commercial Drone Professional, Walker gave his insight on the current state of the industry and went into detail on what Skyports is doing here in the UK and abroad. Skyports is a London-based infrastructure company that has installed 15 ‘Skyports’ already in the capital, as preparation for the emerging drone market. The company’s plan is to make congested cities ready for when the drone market takes off with
Skylogic Research has announced its 2018 Drone Market Sector Report, examining global drone sales, service providers and users. The research, carried out by a leading research and advisory services firm for the commercial drone industry and owner of Drone Analyst, is supported by DJI, DroneDeploy, DroneInsurance.com and Trimble. Primarily, Skylogic found a growing demand for businesses to use drone-acquired data in their day-to-day operations. Colin Snow, CEO and founder of Skylogic Research, outlined what he thought were the more interesting findings, he said: “If you believe the hyperbole, there are hundreds of thousands of drones in the airspace at the
As UK regulations tighten around drone safety, Andy Johnson, head of product and solutions management at business technology solutions provider Brother UK, explains how monocular head mounted display (HMD) technology is helping commercial drone pilots to comply with regulation, and to position drones while viewing camera feeds simultaneously. Regulatory bodies have fallen behind the UK’s rapidly expanding drone industry in recent years. But last month’s new drone laws coming into force was a sign that authorities are beginning to step up the pace – much to the delight of commercial drone pilots, with many in the industry rightly believing that
Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre, in partnership with Innovate UK, has today released its findings from the first phase of the Flying High programme, outlining the opportunities and challenges for implementing drone technology in UK cities. Flying High comprises a collaborative engagement with five UK city-regions chosen earlier this year (Bradford, London, Preston, Southampton and the West Midlands), along with the NHS, police and fire services, national stakeholders from central government, technology experts, industry leaders, academics and regulators. The challenge seeks to position the UK to become a global leader in shaping drone systems that place people’s needs first. The Flying
With the commercial drone industry continuing to grow and develop new use cases, it is more important than ever to consider UAV insurance. Since drones first arrived in the UK, the market has expanded with a host of new industries adopting drone technology to perform different tasks. The wide variation of possibilities for drone use has made insurance a much more complicated field than it was a decade ago. One of the first commercial UAV insurance providers, Coverdrone, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the John Heath Insurance brokerage, has seen first-hand how the market has changed. Company director, Andrew Heath, tells
While advancements are emerging from the commercial UAV sector thick and fast, the technology is yet to break its way into the mainstream and revolutionise day-to-day life. Despite the fact that a series of road blocks, such as regulations, permissions, costs and public sentiments, have impacted the delivery of drones in cities around the world, leading names from within the industry are looking to change the game and bring drones further into the spotlight. With programmes being introduced around the world to spearhead drone integration, including Nesta’s Flying High Challenge in the UK and the FAA and Department of Transport’s
