Dublin City Council “Launches Pioneering Drone Strategy”

Dublin City Coun­cil (DCC) has launched a pio­neer­ing and ambi­tious drone project enti­tled ‘Drone and Urban Air Mobil­i­ty Strat­e­gy 2024–2029’, reports a press release. This for­ward-think­ing ini­tia­tive “aims to trans­form how the City utilis­es drone tech­nol­o­gy to enhance pub­lic ser­vices while under­stand­ing their future poten­tial,” explains the release. 

Areas include map­ping, dan­ger­ous build­ings inspec­tions and emer­gency response. Drones will also be used to access hard-to-reach areas for sur­veys and envi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing, pro­vid­ing bet­ter over­sight and man­age­ment of urban spaces.

Eileen Quin­li­van, Assis­tant Chief Exec­u­tive and Chair of the DCC Drones High Lev­el Steer­ing Group of Dublin City Coun­cil, com­ment­ed, “By embrac­ing drone tech­nol­o­gy, we are not only enhanc­ing our ser­vice deliv­ery but also paving the way for a smarter, more sus­tain­able city.”

She con­tin­ued, “Drones will rev­o­lu­tionise how we approach var­i­ous tasks, where the ben­e­fits for our staff and cit­i­zens are immense.” Adding, “We are com­mit­ted to ensur­ing that Dublin remains at the fore­front of this urban inno­va­tion.”

A new and ded­i­cat­ed Drone Unit is being estab­lished with­in the DCC to cen­tralise drone oper­a­tions and sup­port inter­nal depart­ments to accel­er­ate the adop­tion of the tech­nol­o­gy. This unit will build on exist­ing capa­bil­i­ties and resources and max­imise effi­cien­cies across the City Board. The unit will also play a role in sup­port­ing inno­va­tion in the drone indus­try by help­ing devel­op new ser­vices that ben­e­fit cit­i­zens and com­mu­ni­ties as the com­mer­cial sec­tor grows.

Philip But­ter­worth-Hayes

Philip But­ter­worth-Hayes, Prin­ci­pal Con­sul­tant of PMI Media, who advised DCC on the strat­e­gy, pro­vides an inter­na­tion­al per­spec­tive. He remarked, “Dublin’s approach to inte­grat­ing drone tech­nol­o­gy into city ser­vices sets a new bench­mark glob­al­ly. The ini­tia­tive’s focus on safe­ty, effi­cien­cy, and pub­lic engage­ment is exem­plary and will undoubt­ed­ly inspire oth­er cities to fol­low suit.” 

He con­tin­ued, “The effi­cien­cy gains from using drones for var­i­ous tasks will lead to cost sav­ings and more effec­tive ser­vice deliv­ery. The strategy’s com­mit­ment to pub­lic engage­ment means that the com­mu­ni­ty is active­ly involved and informed, fos­ter­ing trust and col­lab­o­ra­tion.”

The release explains, “This strat­e­gy has been devel­oped through exten­sive con­sul­ta­tion with inter­nal and exter­nal stake­hold­ers, ensur­ing that it aligns with Dublin’s unique needs and lever­ages the lat­est advance­ments in drone tech­nol­o­gy. The pol­i­cy also sup­ports com­pli­ance with evolv­ing Euro­pean Union reg­u­la­tions and empha­sis­es pub­lic trust, safe­ty, and pri­va­cy.”

Julie Gar­land, Founder and CEO of Avtrain, who pro­vid­ed exper­tise and guid­ance on the strat­e­gy empha­sised the trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial of drones. “Drones are rev­o­lu­tion­is­ing how we think about urban mobil­i­ty and pub­lic ser­vice deliv­ery. By inte­grat­ing them into var­i­ous city ser­vices, cities can stream­line oper­a­tions, reduce response times in emer­gen­cies, and pro­vide more effi­cient mon­i­tor­ing of infra­struc­ture and envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions.”

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The devel­op­ment of the Drone and Urban Air Mobil­i­ty Strat­e­gy for DCC has been led through the Smart City pro­gram which sup­ports the coun­cil in future-proof­ing how new and emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies are applied. By fos­ter­ing a vibrant drone tech­nol­o­gy ecosys­tem, Dublin has the poten­tial to attract new busi­ness­es and dri­ve eco­nom­ic growth, posi­tion­ing itself as a leader in this emerg­ing sec­tor.

Jim Gavin, Chief Oper­a­tions Offi­cer in the Irish Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty, said, “We are delight­ed to sup­port this ini­tia­tive. We believe it will pave the way for advance­ments in urban air mobil­i­ty, ben­e­fit­ing both the pub­lic and the broad­er avi­a­tion indus­try.”

The release con­cludes, “This enter­prise is set to bol­ster Dublin’s econ­o­my by cre­at­ing a dynam­ic drone tech­nol­o­gy ecosys­tem that could attract fresh busi­ness­es and estab­lish the City as a fron­trun­ner in this cut­ting-edge indus­try.”

For more infor­ma­tion

https://smartdublin.ie/dublin-city-strategy

(Top image: DCC)

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Drone Strat­e­gy for Dublin City Coun­cil