Switzerland has 'Drone Valley' where 80 startups gather in order to revitalize the drone industry

By Shepard 4711

Drone, which anyone can easily skip, is a device that enables a wide variety of uses, such as blowing and bringing discoveries not only in pleasant toys but also in the logistics and construction industry , art , and cultural anthropology . Aiming at further development of such a drones, there are Silicon Valley 's " Drone Valley " in Switzerland that is used by about 80 startups.

Welcome to the Drone Valley - SWI swissinfo.ch
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/swiss-innovation_welcome-to-the-drone-valley/44375836

"This place is the best place in Europe to conduct robotics research and realize ideas," said Przemyslaw Kornatowski, "Because it is a very wonderful place in the field of drone, I came here off the US "There are companies that join our" Drone Valley "" Maximilian Boosfeld is a startup entrepreneur who is developing drone in Drone Valley. Kornatowski is developing a drone for small shipping covered with a cage in its surroundings and Wingtra headed by Mr. Boosfeld is developing a drone specialized in mapping and surveying.

Wingtra's Dronne "WingtraOne" is an aircraft that did a nice drone with the drones and planes. When taking off and landing, it rises vertically like a helicopter, and when it reaches the sky it is possible to tilt the aircraft horizontally and fly with wings like an airplane. Wingtra is a startup with 45 employees, and WingtraOne has already been used around the world. Its applications are various, such as large-scale infrastructure development projects and surveys of open pit coal mines, construction and drilling monitoring.

WingtraOne is a drone developed as part of a research project at the Zurich Technical University. Mr. Boosfeld said about this drone: "With these features, we were able to win in the competition.This drones with fixed wings can cover a larger area than the quad co - We can shoot high-resolution pictures with a high-performance camera. "

The drone "PackDrone" developed by Kornatowski was designed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. It is wrapped in a spherical basket made of carbon fiber around the drone, it can be folded and stored when not in use. It is used for transporting relatively small items such as mail, medicine and transport of first aid kits, but this basket is to ensure safety when delivering luggage at the arrival site.

Both of these are drone born in Dolone Valley, but it is not a coincidence that this kind of environment was born in Switzerland, but it is a result of an approach based on a proper policy. Drone Valley refers to the area spanning the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and Zurich Technical University, about 200 km apart, where about 80 startups have gathered in the past few years, and 2,500 jobs have been created I have done it.

It is said that there are several important factors in the background. Wingtra's Boosfeld said about the situation: "There are schools that teach two sophisticated robotics in Switzerland, and if not the best in the world, we have the best schools in Europe, startups make ideas come true For that reason, I bring an excellent brain, which is possible here in Switzerland. " Also, Kondatowski of PackDrone says, "Here we have innovative projects, programmers and mechanisms to support startups," Innosuisse "by the Swiss Federal Government."

It is said that this initiative is also being pushed by the Swiss government's legislation. A policy aimed at becoming a pioneer in the drone field is taken and Boosfeld says, "The federal government is trying to maintain the pioneer's role and we hope that this industry will grow further, It means that we can get the cooperation of the government grasping the needs of R & D and avoid evils caused by so-called "government office work". "

Also, in Switzerland, airline authorities have formulated the "Specific Operations Risk Assessment" (risk survey in specified operations: SORA) guidelines for evaluating the risks of using aircraft such as drone, and the development of the environment for the use of drone is It is being advanced. Twenty-two thousand drone a year is sold in Switzerland, and drone operating in the country is expected to rise to 100,000 aircraft. Boosfeld says, "There are plenty of space for birds and helicopters, airplanes, skydivers, etc. in the sky, but we need to make strategies that can coexist all of them."

By Codelco

2017 since March, the Swiss postal service company "Swiss Post" in the small city of Lugano the transport service by the world's first drone on for the research facility offers . The quad-cotter is responsible for transporting between hospitals in the city at speeds up to 36 km / h and, in case of failure, the parachute is automatically deployed to stop the damage caused by the fall.

On the other hand, in Zurich the experiment to drone a blood sample between laboratories stopped after just one day. It seems to be the reason that residents near the landing site complained of the noise caused by the drone.