RAAS has recently had many drone-related activities, which are accelerating the R&D in this domain. The RAAS coordinator organisation, VTT, has signed collaboration agreements (Memorandums of Understanding, MOUs) related to autonomous systems R&D with Japan UAS Industrial Development Association (JUIDA) and Redstone AERO who is operating the Helsinki-East Aerodrome. JUIDA and VTT (and also RAAS) will intensify their cooperation with foreign industries in the field of unmanned aerial systems, for example, related to novel powering solutions, advanced sensors, connectivity, cyber security, autonomous control, and all-weather solutions.
With Redstone AERO, we will conduct strategic research and commercial activities in drone systems and aim at lifting aviation-related R&D and promoting activities in Helsinki-East Aerodrome to a world-class level. Redstone AERO organised the Tech Runway event in the Helsinki-East Aerodrome in the end of August where the collaboration was announced and RAAS was presented. For recordings of the event, please see the below YouTube links:
Tech Runway Live Seminar, part 1
Tech Runway Live Seminar, part 2
Other close drone-related collaborations include World UAV Finnish chapter’s activities, such as a webinar with the theme ”Where we will fly after Covid 19?” held in the beginning of June. A recording of the webinar can be found here: https://www.cyberwatchfinland.fi/where-we-will-fly-after-covid-19/
In addition, as mentioned in our previous news, several large drone-related projects from RAAS members have received funding, including the following ones:
- EU H2020 project: ”Enabling sustainable airmobility in urban contexts via emergency and medical services” (AiRMOUR, total volume: 5,65M€, schedule: 2021-2023)
- Nordic Innovation project: “Nordic Drone Initiative – an enabler for sustainable cross-border goods and passenger transport with drones” (3,7 MNOK, 2020-2022)
- EU H2020 project: “Creating the 21st century spatial ecosystem” (FF2020, 6M€, 2021-2023)
- ESR project: DroneMaster (389k€, 2020-2022)
We also have several other drone-related projects in preparation. If your company is interested in joining these preparations, please contact RAAS Coordinator Hannu Karvonen: firstname.lastname@vtt.fi, +358 40 021 6396.