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Europe awards its Drone HeroesOn June 22, an international jury, including LARPAS representative – Ilmars Ozols, selected five unique drone projects to be the 2017 European Drone Heroes. The public chose his own favorite project during an online voting poll. The awards were given by Belgian Defence Minister Steven Vandeput during the final of the contest at the Commercial UAV Expo Europe in Brussels.
All the winners can be found on the website of the drone community with their winning video: https://www.dronecommunity.biz/drone-hero-europe-2017-winners/. |
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LARPAS member “Aerones” also participated with their heavy-lift drone designed to be used both for recreational and rescue operations LARPAS member “Aerones” also participated with their heavy-lift drone:Even though the project was well recognized and mentioned many times, jury votes resulted to the 3rd place without giving them chance to perform at Brussels. But LARPAS wish them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors! |
5 jury categories and 1 public award
During the Commercial UAV Expo, organized by US-based Divcom, ten finalists received the opportunity to explain their previously submitted video in a short pitch. Then an international jury chose amongst these ten the five outstanding projects to award:
High Potential Drone Hero
Polish contestant Droneradar was elected as the company with the most potential. It was a tough exercise to choose between them and the Belgian Unifly, which was a difficult decision for the jury. In the end, Droneradar was rewarded for their impressive results that came about with only limited resources.
Creative Drone Hero
The Dutch organization Mine Kafon was voted the most creative drone project. They presented a demining solution with drones. The jury found it to be a project with a great social impact that could be deployed immediately.
Innovative Drone Hero
The innovative Drone Hero was awarded to the Swiss team Voliro. They developed a drone who can fly in much more flexible ways than a conventional device can. The jury saw a lot of potential for the future.
Start-up Drone Hero
Best startup was Vectrino from Croatia. They came up with a project to combat mosquito plagues. The jury saw a concept with potentially a global impact, for example in the field of preventive disease control.
International Drone Hero
Dutch based Ampyx Power was voted the best international concept. With a drone alternative for windturbines, Ampyx did well with the jury. They saw a customer-validated business case that should be rolled out globally as quickly as possible.
Public Drone Hero
Skycan from Belgium was popular online with his search & rescue video. That landed them the public award with just under 5000 votes.
The winners will all receive a full access pass for the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas and get the opportunity to participate in a trade mission to Las Vegas, organized by EUKA, the Flemish dronecluster.
More info at www.euka.org, www.dronecommunity.eu and via info@euka.org.