A SPECIAL REPORT FROM - Commercial Drone Professional
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A SPECIAL REPORT FROM Commercial Drone Professional www.commercialdroneprofessional.com
SPECIAL REPORT:
Innovation
in the Drone
Industry
2
The word ‘innovation’ gets thrown around a lot in the
modern business environment, but there are not many
industries where it is as so appropriately used as it is in the
drone industry. In what is such a forward thinking sector,
without those driving it forward being so innovative and
thinking of new ways to push the industry on, the drone
industry would not be where it is today. However, as the
drone community is aware, there is still a lot of work to be
done when it comes to getting where it needs to be. CDP
finds out from some of the world’s leading drone firms just
how much of a role ‘innovation’ will play.
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
O N T H E P A N E L
Ellen Malfliet, Ferdinand Veith, Aaron Bufton,
Unifly – chief marketing officer Quantum Systems – online Pergam Suisse – products and
marketing lead technology
Tommy Wilson, Cristina Mihalachioiu, Alice Macpherson,
Flock – drone partnerships Involi - co-founder iRed – junior marketing
manager co-ordinator
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
O N T H E P A N E L
Jamie Allan, Silvia Zaiser, Amy Johnson,
Allan Panthera – CEO and Riegl – marketing manager Coptrz – marketing
founder and PR executive
Petya Spencer, Barbara Stelzner, Ditte Rabæk Lønstrup,
Topcon – marketing DJI – director of Scopito - marketing
executive marketing and corporate manager
communication
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
How is innovation helping you drive business on?
DJI: Our founder’s passion for innovation is actually what has, and continues
to make, DJI the successful company that it is today, and DJI is driven by its
engineers, who continually focus on innovation and user experience. We help
users break down complex technology and make it easy-to-use, reliable and
accessible to anyone with a creative vision. This appeals to the market place.
Despite the drone sector being a relatively young industry, it has
developed significantly since DJI’s introduction of the flight control system
enabling stable hovering without input from the user. We reimagined what
a quadcopter should look like when we brought our first foldable drone, the
Mavic Pro, to market. We took the aerial gimbal from our drones and created
an entirely new product category when we placed it on our handheld Osmo
series. We made the first drone that people can control with hand gestures.
We were the first to add geofencing systems to our drones to help pilots make
better decisions about where to fly.
Key is that we are not just focusing on one drone category; amongst civilian
drone manufacturers we are unique in offering the widest product portfolio
- from the small Mavic Mini weighing less than 250 grams to the Agras T16
which has a maximum take-off weight of 40 kg.
Scopito: In a relatively new market like ours, innovation is part of everything
we do. Our product is constantly evolving, to meet the needs of this
developing market. Scopito started as a small one-person business where Ken
Falk (now CEO) build his own drones. Once the doors to the market started
opening for him, Ken realised that what people wanted to buy was drone
inspections as a service. The one-man company became Heliscope, a drone
service provider. Heliscope needed a software platform to manage all their
inspection data, and Ken decided to hire an old colleague, and they started
to build one. The platform (Scopito) quickly become so popular, that Ken
decided to sell off the inspection-part of his business and change the name to
Scopito – and this is what we are today. We have been innovative every step
of they way, and will continue to evolve, develop and change for the better.
Topcon: Drone use and innovation is helping in the wider field of developing
the digital construction site. The construction industry has a long way to go
to be able to meet the future demand this is only going to be achieved by
innovating and adopting new technologies.
COPTRZ: Innovation is an enormous aspect of our business, it’s our mission to
‘Revolutionise Organisations Using Drones’ and to do that we’ve got the most
complete range of commercial drones in the World, an offering that we must
Key is that we are not just focusing on one drone category; amongst
civilian drone manufacturers we are unique in offering the widest
product portfolio - from the small Mavic Mini weighing less
than 250 grams to the Agras T16 which has a maximum take-
off weight of 40 kg.
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
continuously innovate and improve on to ensure our customers receive the
best drone solutions. We’ve achieved 100%+ growth YOY for 3 years, a feat
just not possible without constant innovation of our products and services.
How does the work of others inspire you to be more innovative
within your own business?
RIEGL: RIEGL is always focusing on the market and the customers’
requirements and expectations. The excellent relationship within the
worldwide RIEGL community, the long-term cooperation with partners and
the reliable customers’ feedback help us to optimize overall performance by
current development and improvement.
Allan Panthera: By seeing what my clients are doing every day, pushing
boundaries and really trying to transform how things are done by maximising
the potential of drone technology, it inspires me to look at how my business
operates. One big thing for me is to keep on top of my Disrupterprise® model,
to make sure I’m aware of and using the latest techniques to support my
clients competing in their markets. Additionally, if I have clients abroad, for
example, I need to think of, “How can I best support them when I can’t be in
their office every day?” I look at things like video support, online software to
track the project and deliverables, whatsapp groups for instant sharing of key
info etc. It might sound basic but compared to other consultancies it’s quite
an innovative way of supporting them.
INVOLI: As any other
technological company, we are
a team of geeks who love SF
movies and literature, gadgets
and comics, superheroes and
time travel. So, the first source
of inspiration for our innovative
endeavours is the one embedded
in the personality of each of
us. Of course, we also get our
inspiration from the external
environment, though it rarely
comes from the drone world, but
mostly from other industries – it
is somewhat natural to get more
inspired from industries which one doesn’t know thoroughly, where from one
learns something new which then clicks in an idea for its own business.
FLOCK: Our products are driven by the demands of our customers so it’s very
important we stay abreast of developments in the sector. It’s doing this that
has enabled us to offer insurance to organisations working on the frontiers
of the industry, from using hydrogen powered drones to conducting BVLOS
flights across multiple countries.
A few stories that inspired the team this year include Skyports acquiring
vertiports across London, Zipline delivering blood to a remote hospitals in
Rwanda and Boeing testing drones with jet engines for long distance flights.
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
How important is it to constantly think outside of the box in the drone
sector?
Pergam-Suisse: The optimal solution for UAV / Drone based natural gas
pipeline leak inspection has not yet be achieved. UAV / Drone based
natural gas pipeline leak inspections are only the preferred method for
areas inaccessible for other methods (ground staff, vehicle based). It will
take a revolutionary change in UAV / Drone capability, noise reduction, and
economics to change this.
Unifly: What box? We are a ground-breaking company. Nothing we are doing
has been done before. We constantly need to invent new business models,
new ways of working. There is no “box” yet that confines us – or anyone in the
drone industry
Scopito: Crucial. If you are not foreseeing the changes in needs, you can
quickly be left behind. This is a young sector,
and the companies that are following the
stream, rather than trying to be ahead of the
curve, are those you won’t see in this sector in
5 years.
DJI: The drone sector is constantly evolving,
and we’re seeing many new companies
entering the sector, particularly on the
enterprise side. These companies are looking
at old issues with fresh eyes and implementing
new technology to tackle challenges in
different industries. It is this constant pursuit
of improvement and ‘thinking outside of the
box’ that is helping the drone industry to thrive across an increasing number
of sectors.
Quantum Systems: Absolutely important. It’s essential to see what’s going
on around you. To observe trends, to recognize developments in order to be
able to react to them. Because you run the risk of losing the connection in the
very fast-moving drone market.
What are the biggest challenges preventing you from being truly innovative
at the moment?
Topcon: Software, computing power and AI. Drone captured data can still
take a long time to process and analyse, once these hurdles are overcome I
think we will truly see drones being widely adopted in the Construction sector.
COPTRZ: The current immaturity of the market can limit innovation, we find
that constantly evolving legislation causes caution around commercial drone
practices. This coupled with the uncertainty of Brexit means budgets are
being withheld or elsewhere spent until the country knows and understands
what changes will occur. Awareness and the cascade of clear information is
key to ensure that we meet help our clients understand the full potential of
the drone industry.
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY
RIEGL: We do everything in our power to remain constantly innovative! One
of the most important basic preconditions is manpower. We continuously
enlarge our team to ensure that all segments (electronics, design, UAV
integration, software and firmware) can be handled properly and that all
available resources are bundled to develop new instruments and software to
control and process the data.
Additionally, new company buildings are currently being constructed both
at the company headquarters in Austria and at the company’s North American
Location in Orlando, USA.
ALLAN PANTHERA: I think ‘truly innovative’ is relative, and so I’d say that
what I’m doing with my business and clients is definitely innovative. Of course,
there are always things you can do bigger and better, but I empathise with my
clients that sometimes you have to be patient to scale and bring out the big
guns at the right time. Walk before you can run.
INVOLI: I think the main challenge is common
for the entire industry and not only for us: lack
of dedicated regulations. The link between
innovativeness and lack of regulations may not
be obvious, but drone companies are subject
to aviation laws, which is a very strict industry;
if special laws for drones aren’t in place and if
these laws are not aligned with the technical
reality and are not taking into account potential
future technological progresses, no innovation
can be fully unleashed. While it may be true
that none of the major breakthroughs in
history had anything to do with regulations
(regulations were then adapted to fit the new DID YOU KNOW?
discoveries/inventions), we are all in a market In the UK, drones have
phase nowadays, having taken our innovations been predicted to
out of the research labs into the real world,
increase national GDP
where we need more structure in order to
further progress.
by as much as £42
billion by the year 2030,
From an innovation point of view, how do you the equivalent of 2%.
see the market progressing in 2020?
FLOCK: 2020 is going to be a big year for
drone innovation. You can expect to see more
interesting use-cases for drones emerge and
more applications appear in traditional industries. We’re already
reviewing requests to insure everything from autonomous drone fleets to
eVTOL taxis and can’t wait to hear from other organisations pushing the
envelope in the UAV industry.
Pergam Suisse: I think the market will continue to try, but with the restrictions
from both the government and the public will continue to stifle signification
growth and innovation that comes with it.
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S P E C I A L R E P O R T: I N N OVAT I O N I N T H E D R O N E I N D U S T RY Unifly: Constant stream of new ideas and new applications. If you compare where we are today versus January 2019, there has been a massive boom in new applications and innovations. Innovation will continue at a very high pace in 2020 and beyond. Quantum Systems: We will certainly make great progress in the area of technical implementation to comply with the legal regulations under the new European UAV Regulation. But especially with regard to flying beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). In general, we are convinced that the use of drones as an innovative supplement will expand in other industries and areas of application. For more information about working Additionally, if you would like to join the other thousands with CDP, including the unique of professionals within and using the drone industry in brand and marketing opportunities receiving our daily e-newsletter which contains five new available, please contact: stories every 24 hours, please contact: BEN GOPAL ALEX DOUGLAS Sales Executive Editorial Assistant +44 (0)20 3176 4233 +44 (0)20 3176 4237 ben.gopal@itppromedia.com alex.douglas@itppromedia.com
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