[Drone Demonstration City] 9 cities each supported with up to 1.3 billion won
[Regulatory Sandbox] 14 companies each supported with up to 300 million won including provision of advanced technology and demonstration opportunities
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT, Minister NOH Hyeong-ouk) announced the selection of 9 local governments, including Incheon and Sejong as the Drone Demonstration Cities and 14 drone companies, including UVify to be applied with the Regulatory Sandbox as the result of the 2022 Drone Demonstration Support Project Contest from 7 January to 15 February.
Nine locations, including Incheon, Sejong, Goyang, Seongnam, Pocheon, Wonju, Gimcheon, Jeonju, and Seosan were selected for the “Drone Demonstration City Project,” which supports up to 1.3 billion won per city and demonstration of drones to suit each regional characteristics.
14 drone companies* including UVify and Pablo Air were selected for the "Drone Regulatory Sandbox Project" to support the commercialization and demonstration of advanced drone technology. The companies are expected to be supported with up to 300 million won in size.
* UVify, Pablo Air, Nearthlab, Viewmagine, Cheongju University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, MuhanIT, HexaFactory, HTNS, Doosan Digital Innovation, SYNEREX, Meissa, CAMTIC Advanced Mechatronics Technology Institute, XDRONE, NARMA.
A total of 33 local governments and 31 companies, a total of 64, applied for the Drone Demonstration City and Regulatory Sandbox project respectively, with the winners selected through close evaluation of the suitability, overlapping of project characteristics, and possilibity of commercialization through a committee composed of experts in the relevant field.
This year marks a special step in the drone industry with the ministry providing up to two years of demonstration service utilizing drones desired by the demanding agencies. In addition, the categories for the sandbox project expanded to include drone S/W, drone delivery, safety inspection, drone leisure, etc.
The Drone Demonstration City Project will proceed with various drone technology demonstrations that match the characteristics of each area including responding to traffic accidents, remote insurance measures, unmanned delivery to islands, designing an urban heat island map, drone-tour content development with augmented reality, etc.
The Drone Regulatory Sandbox Project plans to test and demonstrate various fields using drones including commercializing of drone delivery between distribution centers within urban areas (Pablo Air), developing cluster drone firefighting and lifesaving systems (Cheongju University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation), establishing the domestic drone parachute standard (HexaFactory), localizing the core elements of drones (flight control, power supply board, ground control system, HTNS), advancement of drone soccer (CAMTIC Advanced Mechatronics Technology Institute), etc.
Meanwhile, MOLIT and the Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology (KIAST) held an agreement ceremony for the “2022 Drone Demonstration City Project” in Sejong City on March 16th with officials from relevant local governments and drone companies in participation.
The event also included introduction of project plans and performance goals from each project participants and talks to discuss wayaheads for the Drone Demonstration City and Regulatory Sandbox Projects.
MOLIT Director General for Aviation Policy, Kim Heon-Jeong said, "The domestic drone market has grown by more than seven times in just four years (70.4 billion won in 2016 → 494.5 billion won in 2020) with the help of various policy support from the government such as drone demonstration projects from 2018 and establishment of drone test bed infrastructure, which acted as a boosting agent"
He added, “We hope that each local government and company participating in this Drone Demonstration Project, with safety measures placed as the top priority, play a pivotal role in the development of new technologies in the drone sector and the growth of the drone industry.”
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