Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised Drone Summit, a Virtual Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle Ecosystem: The Way Forward on Friday.
Addressing the Inaugural Session, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Dept of Industries & Commerce (I&C) & IT, GoTS said that it is matter of great pride that the work done in Telangana State towards creating an ecosystem for drone is getting acknowledged across the country.
In his keynote address Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India spoke as to how UAS Rules, 2021 is the going to help the state governments in obtaining approvals for various projects. While congratulating State Government on receiving approval from Ministry of civil Aviation on conducting experimental delivery of covid-19 vaccines by drones, he said that the Telangana is a leading state in creating a robust ecosystem for drone in the country. He urged that the stakeholders working in the drone platform should focus towards creating intelligent algorithms, software and IP which is going to play a key role in future.
Delivering his special address Prof. PJ Narayanan, Director, IIIT Hyderabad spoke about the initiatives taken by institute to ramp up the research activities. He added that investment is R&D should be done as a long-term insurance policy. This is quite evident in the current pandemic situation. The need of the hour is for industries to collaborate with institute and work on futuristic innovation.
While addressing the session, Ramadevi, OSD & Director – Emerging Technologies, Govt. of Telangana added that Telangana is working towards creating a drone city which will foster a drone ecosystem and will enable sharing of resources, best practices and promote innovation. Mr Smit Shah, Director, Partnerships, Drone Federation of India in his special address appreciated the efforts of the Indian Government for coming up with new drone rule. He added that while some stakeholders may point out gaps in the policy; one should also suggest and come up with practical solutions.
Sameer Goel, Chairman, CII Telangana & Managing Director, Coromandel International Ltd in his welcome address mentioned that Telangana has been always on the forefront in this sector and encouraging the start-up ecosystem. He added that this sector still needs a push from in terms of R&D investment, collaborations with institutions, and also demand from industry. Vagish Dixit, Vice Chairman, CII Telangana & Chief Engagement Officer, ALPLA Global and Managing Director & Partner, ALPLA India in his concluding remarks stated that while lot of emphasis is being given on the use of drone in an open airspace, manufacturing sector too can be greatly benefitted using drone for monitoring as well as issued related to safety of manufacturing plants.
Over 250 participants from Industry, Startups & Academia have attended the conference. The conference discussed on various policy issues, challenges & opportunities and also drone technologies & applications in various fields.
The path breaking initiatives with a vision and an enabling ecosystem making Telangana, the Drone Capital of the country
