Dublin City Council has today published its report Accelerating the Potential of Drones for Local Government – International best and emerging practice report as part of an initiative to accelerate the potential of drones across local government in Ireland. The project was co-funded by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s Public Service Innovation Fund and led by Dublin City Council’s Smart Dublin team.
Minister of State for Public Procurement and eGovernment, Ossian Smyth TD, who launched the report today at the offices of Dublin City Council said:
“I am delighted to see organisations such as Dublin City Council, the Local Government Management Association (LGMA), the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), Maynooth University and others come together to think about current and future applications of drone technology and to map out how we can all collaborate to maximise the benefits of these technologies. The DPER Public Service Innovation Fund (PSIF) was designed to support projects like this that are driving innovation across the sector.”
Also released were the results of a national omnibus survey of 900 respondents which found that 84% of respondents felt positive about drone technologies and there is confidence that drones could be delivering mail (67%) and takeaways (55%) across Ireland by 2025. Concerns that were identified by respondents include the importance of trust (75%), privacy (54%) and safety (50%), key issues that will need to be addressed before the technology realises its full potential.
Tim McCarthy is one of Ireland’s top drones’ researchers leading multi-million Euro projects with Science Foundation Ireland and Airbus. He highlighted the importance of collaboration, if Ireland is to realise the potential of drones:
“To move to the next stage there needs to be significant collaboration with local authorities, industry, the IAA, communities and other government agencies to collectively roll out these new technologies and to shape a future where drones are helping to support communities in automated environmental monitoring and specialist support services”
“We are already witnessing an increasing array of developments in the drone industry including; robotic platforms, multimodal sensor technologies coupled with machine learning processors which are helping us to monitor and manage our urban spaces, delivering more efficient services and improving our overall quality of life. These new technologies and services also give rise to real opportunities, to create new jobs and drive innovation.”
For more information
https://smartdublin.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Drone-Report-V15-Digital-Version.pdf
