June 12, 2022

Swiss Drone Days 22 – Conference and Networking Activities

Conference and Matchmaking Activities June 11th, Swiss Drone Days 2022, Dübendorf

During Swiss Drone Days 2022, Innovation Booster Robotics hosted a conference and matchmaking activities dedicated to drone robotics. 60 people from academia, industry and associations attended.

Two presentation blocks (academic and industry/associations) were moderated by a DIAS member (Drone Industry Association Switzerland) and Co-founder of DroneTalks, Eszter Kovacs.

The event encompassed a good balance in topics. After all drones are robots, however, a holistic approach needs to be considered when researching or designing drone; starting with the regulations, global trends and societal constraints. The speakers helped discover these insights.

 

Academic Session

  • Prof. Mirko Kovac (EMPA): Bio-inspired Drones for Infrastructure Systems and Natural Environments
  • Dr. Fabiola Maffra (ETH Zürich): Vision based robotics perception
  • Prof. Michel Guillaume (ZHAW): Safety driven unmanned Aviation by the SORA process
  • Prof. Dario Floreano (EPFL): Resilient, agile, and swarming drones
  • Prof. Davide Scaramuzza (University of Zürich): Autonomous drones

 

Industry Session

  • Lorenzo Murzilli (Founder & CEO at Murzilli Consulting): Global trends and regulations  
  • Marcel Kägi (Director Aviation Policy and Strategy Division at Federal Office of Civil Aviation Switzerland): Policy and strategy in Switzerland
  • Nicolas Ackermann (SBB, Development Engineer Drones): Big industry SBB (user perspective of drones & collaboration with start-ups)
  • Jonathan Müller (Software Engineer, Fotokite): Drone company perspective on hardware
  • Romeo Durscher (VP of Public Safety, Auterion): Drone company perspective on software
  • Guillaume Catry (CEO and Co-founder, WindShape): Enabling drone operation through testing

 

Matchmaking Session

Eszter Kovacs facilitated also the matchmaking sessions. Charged with energy and a small trumpet, she helped people rotate: 19 x 4-minute rotations allowed people to mingle and meet the drone-robotics community.

 

Panel Discussion

A Panel Discussion with industry and association speakers moderated by Eszter Kovacs helped the audience discover how the complexity of drones (regulations, design and integration of software and hardware, safety, public perception) may be mitigated by more collaborations taking place cross-sections.