The Drone Frontier: an eagle-eyed view on the future of unmanned aerial vehicles
The Drone Frontier is a podcast series created by the UKaid funded Frontier Technologies Hub.
From medical delivery to street mapping, drones are being used around the world in a wide variety of use cases. However, deciding when, where, and how to utilise drones in development projects isn’t always straightforward.
In this 5-part podcast series, we delve deeper into what the future of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, might look like; how they can be used for positive impact, what we need to do to integrate them in existing systems, and how we can get the global rules on drone technology right.
The series is based on a report by the UKaid funded Frontier Technologies Hub, which evaluated the pilot projects exploring the use of drones supported through its Livestreaming programme (ranging from using UAV imagery and machine learning to automatically classify road conditions in Tanzania, to Deploying drones to tackle desert locust swarms in East Africa and multi-purpose UAV operations in Malawi).
Delve deeper into these pilots and the potential of UAVs for development impact on the Frontier Technologies Programme website.
In this podcast, hosted by Sarah Pannell, Policy Adviser in the Technology and Innovation Unit, and drones for development lead at the FCDO, we hear from key thought leaders and stakeholders in the drone landscape, including some of the innovators supported by the Hub.
Episode 1 Introduction: the future of drones for good.
With Jonty Slater, Managing Director of The Blue Globe
Episode 2 Testing beyond the tech: exploring new uses cases and what it takes for drone solutions to scale.
With Ruth McPake from the Frontier Technologies Hub, and Kush Gadhia, Senior Business Development Manager at Astral Aerial Solutions
Episode 3 Plugging into existing systems: drone delivery as a solution within medical supply chains
With Tautvydas Juskauskas, Drones Specialist at UNICEF Supply Division, and Olivier Defawe and Luciana Maxim of VillageReach
Episode 4 People, product, and procedures: operating locally and getting global rules right
With Nigel Breyley, drones expert and independent technical advisor, and Anne Nderitu, co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Swift Lab in Kenya.
Episode 5 Bright spots and ripple effects: building drone ecosystems through local manufacturing
With Tendai Pasipanodya and Hans-Peter Thamm from the Drones Doing Good Alliance.
We hope you enjoy the series!
Let us know what resonated with you from the interviews and, if you haven’t already, read the report here.