Observations from Amsterdam Drone Week 2024

A report by Martin Holmberg, Rasmus Lundqvist & Jan-Olof Ehk

Introduction

Between 16-18 April, 2024, Aero EDIH attended the Amsterdam Drone Week, a leading European event for the drone industry. The expo showcased the latest innovations and developments in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as the challenges and opportunities for the future.

Drone Applications

One of the observations we made was the increasing diversification and specialization of drones for different applications. We saw many examples of drones that are designed and optimized for specific tasks and sectors, such as delivery, inspection, agriculture, and first responders. Some of the highlights were:

• There were several drones presented made specifically for delivery, presented by companies such as Phoenix Wings and RigiTech. There were also drones made with an even more specific purpose, e.g. for medical deliveries.
• An Austrian company called Stromkind presented a cost-efficient modular drone capable of fitting different engines and equipment. The drone can carry up to 35 kg, and fly up to 5 hours.
• Scura presented a drone solution with boxes with up to 32 hexacopter drones in each box in order give 24/7 surveillance. Swarms of the drones can the intelligently monitor large areas for purposes such as disaster management, inspection, and leakage mapping
• Several drones made specifically for first responders were shown, such as DJI and Saxion.
• In order to meet the needs of low-cost drones, Drone Team Twente presented a 3-d printed drone for medical deliveries, aimed at countries where infrastructure is scarce or missing. This may be an upcoming market with great benefits for many people.

 

These examples show that drones are becoming more purpose-made and tailored for different applications, rather than being generic and multi-purpose. This trend reflects the growing maturity and diversity of the drone industry, as well as the increasing demand and expectations from the customers and end-users.

Drone Regulations

Another important theme of the expo was the regulatory issues and barriers that affect the drone industry. We learned that many countries and regions have different and sometimes conflicting rules and standards for drone operations, such as flight permissions, airspace management, safety requirements, and data protection. These regulations can limit the potential and scalability of drone applications, especially for cross-border and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations. For example, we heard that some countries in Europe still do not allow drone delivery, while others have strict limitations on the weight and size of the packages.

However, we also learned that there is a lot of progress and collaboration in the regulatory field, and that the industry is hopeful for the future. For instance, we learned that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recently updated and harmonized the framework for drone regulations in the EU, which aims to create a common and safe market for drone services. We also learned that there are several initiatives and projects that are working on developing and testing new solutions for drone traffic management, such as U-space, UTM, and UAM. These solutions aim to enable safe and efficient integration of drones into the airspace, using technologies such as remote identification, geo-fencing, and dynamic airspace allocation.

These developments show that the regulatory environment for drones is evolving and improving, and that there is a strong dialogue and cooperation between the industry, the authorities, and the stakeholders. This is essential for fostering innovation and growth in the drone sector, as well as for ensuring public safety and acceptance.

Drone Seminars

The expo also featured many seminars and workshops on different topics related to drones, such as technology, business, policy, and social impact. We only managed to attend a few of them, but we learned a lot from the speakers and the discussions. Some of the seminars that we attended or learned about were:

• A seminar on the future of drone delivery, where we heard from experts and practitioners from different companies and organizations, such as Wings and Amazon, about the opportunities and challenges of using drones for delivering goods and services.
• We attended a seminar on Women in Drones, where gender quality in the drone ecosystem was discussed. How can the industry attract more women, and how can the systems be more inclusive (e.g. developing flight controls that fit into women’s smaller hands)?
• We also attended seminars about weather impact on safety, harmonizing regulations, drone corridors and key enablers to mature operations. All these seminars highlighted the need of sharing information, introducing regulatory sandboxes in order moving forward but also the complexity within the drone industry coming with perspectives and experiences from the flying industry as well as from other industries like agriculture.

These seminars show that there is a lot of knowledge and expertise in the drone community, as well as a lot of interest and curiosity from the public and the media. They also show that there are many topics and issues that are relevant and important for the drone industry, and that there is a need for more education and awareness on these topics.

Booth Interest

Finally, we want to mention the interest and feedback that we received at our booth, where we showcased our network of drone companies and our services for SME’s, regional airports, and public authorities. We were very pleased and surprised by the amount of visitors and inquiries that we received, and we believe that our booth was one of the most visited and popular at the whole expo. We had many conversations and interactions with different people and organizations, such as potential customers, partners, suppliers, and media. Most of the interest was created by our industrial partners from our network (Vidhance and Stromkind), and they were both very happy for the exposure they got at our booth.

These meetings show that there is a lot of demand and interest for our services and our network, and that we have a unique and valuable proposition in the drone market. They also show that we have a lot of opportunities and leads for future business and partnerships, and that we need to follow up and nurture these relationships.

Jan-Olof Ehk (Aero EDIH) meets Andreas Desch from Stromkind.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we had a very productive and enjoyable time at the Amsterdam Drone Week 2024, and we learned a lot from our observations and experiences. We saw that the drone industry is growing and diversifying, and that there are many applications and sectors that can benefit from drones. We also saw that the drone industry is facing and overcoming regulatory and social challenges, and that there are many initiatives and collaborations that are advancing the drone sector. We also saw that there is a lot of interest and feedback for our network and our services, and that we have a lot of potential and prospects for our business. Regarding the participants at the Expo we can conclude that there were a great variety in the delegations – regulators, air navigational services, different test site projects, manufacturers, branch organizations as well as drone operators and technical suppliers. We are very grateful and proud of our participation and our performance at the expo, and we look forward to the next edition.