UAE ‘Drones for Good’
UAE Drones for Good is an annual international competition and award by the government of the United Arab Emirates to encourage useful and positive applications for drone technology. It offers a $1 million award for the international competition and UAE Dhs1 million award for the UAE competition.
The award was launched at the UAE Government Summit 2014. The first 2015 award was contested by more than 800 entries from 57 countries including MIT’s ‘Waterfly’ collaborative drone ‘swarms’.
The competition – held in Dubai’s Internet City – saw entries from around the world, using drones for a number of uses, including monitoring wildlife, saving people from the sea, and delivering medical supplies.
UAE Drones For Good competition held in Dubai on Friday saw entries around the world that offer promising technology that would revolutionize service delivery, from traffic inspection to wildlife monitoring and blood supply in cases of health emergencies.
But prior to deploying drones for good there is a need for proper regulations, and the UAE Minister for Cabinet Affairs said his country will be the world’s first to introduce rules for drones.
Other International Competition and grants –
2nd International Drone Show Competition Winners Announced
The 2nd International Drone Show Competition, initiated by SPH Engineering’s Drone Show Software (DSS) team, announces its results. 214 registered participants from 104 countries competed in one or more of six categories. Entries were evaluated by a jury panel composed of EU, North and Latin American and Asian drone show professionals, 3D animators and experienced entrepreneurs.
The concept of the Competition in 2021 turned into a multidisciplinary contest of both animations and shows performed by real drones. The task was to submit a project video in a selected category. Winners by category are:
‘Best drone show 3D animation’: Nacho Cruje (Spain)
‘Best integrated drone show’: CELESTIAL (the UK)
‘Best drone show business promo video’: Grizzly Entertainment (Cyprus)
‘Best drone show up to 100 drones’: Flock Drone Art (Spain)
‘Best drone show up to 1000 drones’: Taiwan Drone 100 (Taiwan)
‘Best drone show over 1000 drones’: Andrei Golenev (with the performance by Geoscan Drone Show from Russia)
In addition to the main winners the following participants will be granted special prizes: Vincent Bauer (France), DRONE SHOW EUROPE (Czech Republic), Stellar Lights (Australia), and Geoscan Drone Show (Russia).
According to Angelito D. Jadormeo, a winner of the 2020 competition and a member of the jury panel in 2021, new creative talents are getting discovered and are getting better; “The 2nd Competition is way better than the 1st I think, because it has created more categories exhibiting a greater application for the drone show technology.”
The jury consisted of 10 people and scored each submission from 1 to 10 evaluating both creative and technical elements. “It is exciting to observe how this Competition is becoming a global platform to unite various expertise in drone shows: from animation to business promo videos, from small scale shows up to 100 drones, to integrated and large scale shows. The number of participating countries doubled in comparison to 2020 while the youngest participant this year was only 14 years old. Keeping in mind the diversity and complexity of submissions we have selected 6 winners as planned and added a few special prizes,” Alexey Dobrovolskiy, CTO at SPH Engineering, comments.
Winners will enjoy specially developed drone show operator kits (a set of items that an operator always needs for a comfortable process of organizing a drone show), will be granted diplomas and included in the event promo campaign.
The 2nd International Drone Show Competition was established to bring together the best representatives, their shows, animations, and business approaches to exchange knowledge about breakthrough sustainable technologies for outdoor light events. The goal is to keep building up a community of like-minded people passionate about drones and modern art.