Preston is flying high

7 February 2018

City is named as one of five national drone test centres after joint bid from University and City Council

Preston is flying high after being chosen as one of five national drone technology test centres.

The city beat off stiff competition from a third of the UK鈥檚 cities to be selected and is the North West鈥檚 only representative on the Flying High Challenge, the first programme of its kind.

成人视频 (UCLan) and Preston City Council joined forces to lead the successful application, run by Nesta鈥檚 Challenge Prize Centre in partnership with Innovate UK.

Over the next five months, the institutions will work with national drone experts to host a range of events for local companies and work on a strategy to see how drones can be used in the future to respond to a wide variety of challenges.

Dr Darren Ansell, UCLan Aerospace Engineering Lead, said: 鈥淭he Flying High City challenge is an important opportunity for Preston to develop a vision for the integration of drone systems, building upon its history of aerospace innovation.

鈥淭his recognition on a national scale is fantastic; it is putting Preston鈥檚 name up in lights and will open doors at the very top levels of the industry.鈥

"This recognition on a national scale is fantastic; it is putting Preston鈥檚 name up in lights and will open doors at the very top levels of the industry."

The team will have the opportunity to work with technical experts, regulators and government officials while the city will also get priority status for future demonstration projects.

Derek Whyte, Assistant Chief Executive of Preston City Council, said: 鈥淕iven the importance of aerospace in the area, it is vital that Preston takes a lead on identifying drone opportunities. Preston offers a manageable testing ground for strategy development, yet is of sufficient size and complexity to be able to develop solutions that can be scaled-up elsewhere.鈥

Preston has been at the forefront of identifying and developing civic drone applications for several years, evident through the work of UCLan鈥檚 Civic Drone Centre, which was established in 2014 with 拢250,000 investment. This not-for-profit Centre brings together expertise and stakeholders including local authorities, communities and businesses and has developed and demonstrated many novel drone solutions in diverse fields such as mountain search and rescue, gas sampling for emergency services and mine field surveying.

The Civic Drone Centre is an important component of UCLan鈥檚 new 拢32 million Engineering Innovation Centre, which will be open in the heart of Preston City Centre in early 2019.

"Encouraging innovation in the aerospace sector is a priority for the 成人视频 and an important part of the county鈥檚 response to the UK鈥檚 new industrial strategy."

The proposal received support from a number of organisations in 成人视频.   According to Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning at 成人视频 County Council: 鈥淭he area represents one of the largest clusters of aerospace activity in the world.  Encouraging innovation in the aerospace sector is a priority for the 成人视频 and an important part of the county鈥檚 response to the UK鈥檚 new industrial strategy鈥.

The other cities and city regions chosen were: Bradford, London, Southampton and the West Midlands.

Nishita Dewan, Programme Lead for the Flying High Challenge, explained: 鈥淭he entries to the Flying High Challenge showed the huge appetite from cities across the UK to develop models for drones that work for their people and communities. We saw diverse and creative uses for drones such as boosting wi-fi and helping find lost children at the seaside, to the support for key public services such as delivering AEDs and inspecting critical infrastructure.鈥

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of the think tank Centre for Cities, added: 鈥淭he Flying High Challenge is a great opportunity to examine how different cities can use drones to address the distinct challenges and opportunities they face. It will offer valuable lessons for places across the country on how we can new technology to strengthen local economies and make our cities better places to live and work.鈥

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