October 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference is bringing together key stakeholders with policymakers to examine the future of the commercial drone market.
The discussion at a glance:
- product innovation - including latest developments in commercial use cases, such as delivery, logistics and infrastructure surveying
- safety and risk mitigation - priorities for innovation, airspace integration and traffic management, and insurance
- regulation - the UK and European frameworks, issues and effectiveness, and enforcement powers
- support - what the sector needs most, including in terms of policy, funding, regulation, and in R&D
- engagement - increasing public trust in drones amongst the public, policymakers and elsewhere in business
The agenda:
- The future of commercial drone operations - latest developments in materials and technology, and current and future use cases for unmanned aircraft
- Next steps for developing regulatory frameworks for unmanned air operations in the UK - ensuring safety and enabling innovation
- Achieving the safe integration of drone operations in UK airspace
- Assessing and mitigating the key risks associated with drones and developing public trust - security, privacy and insurance
- Priorities for policy in the regulation of unmanned aircraft in the UK - key aims of the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Bill
- Case study: utilising the capability of drones in law enforcement and police operations
The discussion in detail:
The market
- potential growth areas - use cases for drones and aerial robotics technology being developed and rolled out across industry and public services
- innovation - examining advances in aerial robotics technology and their implications, including in batteries and motors, as well as control software and automation
- making drone usage routine - including increasing the availability of qualified pilots, and developing and maturing leasing and hiring arrangements
Regulation
- keeping pace - ensuring that policy and regulation can accommodate more sophisticated use cases for drones
- for example tackling the real-time risk mitigation and notification requirements to enable complex operations such as drone swarms and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight
- airspace management - what more may be needed to enable routine drone flying in controlled and uncontrolled airspace
- notification and clearance requirements
- risk mitigation - priorities for creating equivalent to the see-and-avoid procedure used by manned aircraft
- future proofing - preparing for possible advanced use cases such as the use of drones for logistics and parcel delivery
- standards - design and introduction of electronic conspicuity for commercial drones, and further potential measures to mitigate risk
- insurance - developments in products specified for the drone industry, looking at design and marketing, quantifying risk, and the potential for pay-as-you-fly
Enforcement
- effectiveness - impact of measures in the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Bill including greater enforcement powers for police forces in tackling negligent or malicious drone flying
- next steps - the UK Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Strategy and further options for policy to tackle illegal drone flying and the misuse of drones
Trust and sector support
- research and development - what more is needed from policymakers and regulators to support the development of drone technologies in the UK
- engagement strategies - priorities for increasing trust in drones and counteracting negative public perceptions, within the public, regulators and policymakers, and with partners and other sectors
Developments that are relevant to the discussion:
- Unlocking the Power of Location: The UK’s geospatial strategy 2020 to 2025 - the Government and Geospatial Commission identifying the potential of drones to contribute to optimisation of logistics worth £2bn per year, with possibilities such as using satellite tracing to calculate single-flight drone insurance premiums
- the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Bill - currently before Parliament
- the UK Drones Pathfinder programme - funding for the programme on integration of drones in UK airspace is to be extended through to 2021
- European drones regulation - the new European drone rules drawn up by European Union Aviation Safety Agency, scheduled for December 2020
- UK regulatory developments:
- the UK Drone and model aircraft registration and education service and introduction of mandatory drone registration
- the CAA Drone and Model Aircraft Code
- the UK Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Strategy
- COVID-19 - drones playing a role during the crisis:
- monitoring and enforcement - of social distancing measures
- emergency logistics - with discussion around the potential to support authorities, for example in aiding diagnoses and the transfer of key supplies
- funding - backing for new trials from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders.
There is particularly strong interest in this conference. Places have been reserved by officials from BEIS; the Department for Transport; the Home Office; the Ministry of Defence; HM Treasury; the DCMS; the Defence Airspace and Air Traffic Management; the Military Aviation Authority Defence Safety Agency; the Department for International Trade; the European Space Agency; the UK Space Agency; the Department of Health and Social Care; the Geospatial Commission; the Government Legal Department; the Government Legal Profession; GCHQ; HM Revenue & Customs; the Health and Safety Executive; the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; Marine Scotland; the National Crime Agency; and the Welsh Government.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
