Delaware poised to be a leader in drone innovation

Drones could have a huge future in Delaware according to some drone technology experts, who say the area already has plenty of experts when it comes to flying. That’s why Monday, Delaware Technical Community College (Del. Tech) held “Drones For Delaware.”

Del. Tech hosted the event at all three campus locations, complete with expert speakers, and drone demonstrations.

“It was our thinking that we needed to try to get in front of this a little bit, get some experts from not only local businesses that are into the drone technology, but also some national experts,” said Del. Tech. president Mark Brainard.

Keynote speaker Mark Ryan, CEO of Ryan Media Lab, pointed to the vast amount of aviation experts already in the first state as the prime reason why Delaware is poised to lead the way for drone innovation.

“The biggest investment you need to make is to get smart in aviation, so what better place to start in Delaware where the brains are already here,” Ryan said.

Ryan added that there is valuable brain power coming from other parts of Delmarva as well, such as NASA Wallops Island.

Meanwhile, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDot) is already exploring different ways to use the cutting edge technology.

“We’ve talked about many different uses of drones like real time traffic monitoring, especially during like event management or emergency management,” said Josh Thomas, aeronautics coordinator for DelDot.

Thomas said DelDot is also exploring ways it could also use drones to survey infrastructure that may be dangerous for humans, as well as use them to monitor capital improvement projects from above.

However, looking at the immediate future, Ryan raised the point that drones could be used to help farmers on Delmarva, with a birds eye view of their land allowing them to instantly identify problems.

“With that very basic information, which can be obtained inside of one day, they can move resources save money, increase productivity and their yields go up and their losses go down,” Ryan said.

Ryan believes drones will continue to become more and more popular, and says people should educate themselves about the possibilities as the industry takes off.

Del. Tech. plans on offering classes on how to use drones safely soon.