DJI’s success in consumer drone innovation has created a world leading drone zone in Shenzhen, China (Source: dronelife.com)

With the accelerating adoption of drones across the world, innovation in the drone space is heating up. New airframes, sensors, control systems and even traffic management are hot topics in the drone world, but where is at all happening?

Today, we are looking at a few of the drone tech clusters around the world that are helping existing businesses and startups deal with the ability to test and prove new drone technologies.

Notable industry clusters

The world has seen the rise of drone technologies over the past decade and industry support networks (clusters) have grown around them to meet the future needs of new and existing businesses within the drone space. Here are few of the better know industry support clusters from around the world;

UAS Denmark — Odense, Denmark

Starting as a concept in 2012 at the Hans Christian Andersen Airport, UAS Denmark has grown significantly to be one of the largest drone innovation hubs around with over 867 sq. km of airspace for testing drones, including both land and open seas flight zones. UAS Denmark covers the the entire drone value chain; researchers, operators, manufacturers, government agencies, private companies and end users.

Combining the functions of a Testing Centre which opened in 2017 with an Industry Cluster and Startup Hub, UAS Denmark has grown significantly. Currently they operate with over 160 organisations as part of its Industry Cluster and a range of existing and start-up businesses located on-site.

UAS Denmark has over 860 sq km of flight space for testing (Source: UAS Denmark)

Barcelona Drone Centre — Barcelona, Spain

Established in 2014, the Barcelona (BCN) Drone Centre claims the position as the first civilian drone testing and training centre established in the world. The BCN Drone Centre incorporates both drone training and certification services, as well as a testing area and flight facilities for drone development testing.

The facilities for drone developers at BCN Drone Centre include:

2500 ha. of clear airspace with a height ceiling of 4,000 ft ( 1,219m) ASL

2 operational runways

RTK and dGPS and over 50 ground control points

Facilities to support flight operations and drone maintenance

In addition to the training and testing, BCN Drone Centre conducts a range of commercial events and also includes a drone racing range for the more sports-minded drone pilot.

BCN Drone Centre near Barcelona (Source BCN Drone Centre)

NUAIR Alliance— New York, USA

NUAIR Alliance — formally the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance — is a not-for-profit coalition of more than 200 private and public entities and academic institutions, all working together to operate and oversee drone testing in New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan. Flight operations capabilities are delivered though Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY which is one of only seven FAA approved drone testing centres in the US.

NUAIR Alliance is heavily networked into the US aerospace industry and provides a range of testing and business support facilities for users to take advantage of. A key focus of the NUAIR facilities is the creation of drone traffic management (UTM) systems and its integration into beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flying.

Plans are underway for expanding the current UAS test site at Griffiss, managed by NUAIR, to cover 15,000 sq miles(over 38,000 sq km) of New York airspace for a BVLOS test and development facility including a 50 mile (80 km) drone flight corridor.

Drone Delivery Canada utilising the NUAIR Alliance flight facilities for testing (Source: Dronedeliverycanada.com / YouTube)

Drone zones from the ground up

Unlike the more traditional industry cluster support model, these locations have evolved with some positive government policies and access to skilled people and capital and are making big impacts in the world of drone technologies.

Shenzhen, China

The home of the Chinese drone industry is the Nanshan district in Shenzhen which contains over 300 different drone businesses. Including well known industry names such as DJI, AEE Aviation Technology, Smart Drone, Zero Tech and Flypo, Shenzhen has become a global hub for the drone industry which some analysts note that the city accounts for 90% of the world’s civilian drone market production.

Israel

While we can’t find any specific drone industry cluster or support system in Israel, the country is a hotbed of innovation in the drone space. Notable startups in the israeli drone industry include:

Israeli drone startups come heavily influenced from the country’s development of military drones. Many of the startups having a background of founders serving in the Unit 8200, an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and decryption.

Upcoming & new opportunities

While existing initiatives are still relatively new (the oldest being officially less than 10 years old), new opportunities are being created globally. Here are some of the upcoming opportunities for drone developers across the world looking to capitalise on the drone industry.

DroneHub — Perth, Australia

Planned for launch in late 2018 to early 2019, Drone Hub will focus on supporting the development and testing of technologies that support key Australian industries including mining, oil & gas, agriculture and construction.

Drone Port — Sint-Truiden, Belgium

Located near at Lumburg Regional Airport, a decommissioned military airfield, Drone Port follows the model of testing centre with 15 ha of testing fields and a startup incubator. Construction commenced in December 2017 and already a number of businesses have located to DronePort.

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