Creating a common voice for the Massachusetts drone community
In support of MassRobotics, the Bridging Innovation team was the founding sponsor of their Drone Working Group (DROWG). The DROWG vision is to be a common voice for the Massachusetts drone community. Its mission is to educate the public and shape policy about drones so that the Commonwealth is a supportive environment for drone businesses, an early adopter by government and industry, and as a place where startups have the necessary resources to develop and test. The first DROWG meeting was held virtually in mid-July with plans to meet quarterly. The inaugural working group meeting had participation from government, academia, industry, startups, and non-profits including current and former MassRobotics startups, Mass Department of Transportation, US Air Force, Kostas Research Institute, Raytheon, and MITRE. Guest speaker, Ted Lester, Chief Technologist at AiRXOS a subsidiary of GE, facilitated a discussion on UAS Traffic Management.