Drone Tradeshow Arrives in Bologna

Dronitaly, a showcase for civil drones for professional use organized by BolognaFiere Water&Energy (BFWE), is underway in Bologna, 9-11 October, 2024.

This tenth edition promised exciting innovations and brought together leading national and international businesses and institutions.

And since developments in the sector are also accompanied by amendments to the legislative and regulatory framework, this compelling topic was discussed by the representatives of EASA, ENAC, ENAV, EUROCONTROL, JEDA and ASSORPAS on October 9th.

Research activities which have been instrumental in the development of drones, which are now a reality for the transport of goods and people, are constantly expanding the fields of application of remotely piloted vehicles. Leading companies join forces and work on new projects. An example is Poste Italiane and Leonardo, which presented cargo drones for middle mile transport networks.

These are all topics that attract the attention of the institutions. Valentina Orioli, Councilor for Transport of the Municipality of Bologna, and the Mayor of Varese, Davide Galimberti, will describe, together with FS Sistemi Urbani, how the new vertiport in Varese will transform this town into a crucial hub for sustainable air transport.

Ample space in the discussions has been dedicated to investments and to the availability of funds and in particular to the obstacles that still hinder the use of available funds. There has also been focus on the success stories of some small and large companies that have managed to successfully conclude their experimentation and research projects, revealing how they have had their financial needs met and how they plan to support the development and marketing of their flight activities.

Vincenzo Colla, Councilor for Economic Development and Green Economy, Labour, Training and International Relations of the Emilia-Romagna Region, said; “We are proud to host a fair like Dronitaly in Bologna. We are very interested in civil drones, a sector with significant growth margins due to the ample development prospects of urban air mobility and advanced air mobility.

“We are committed to creating a new ecosystem that focuses both on passenger and cargo aircraft, taking advantage of our high-quality manufacturing skills and our data collection sensors, underpinned by the massive investments made in the regional Big Data Valley. By including aerospace in the Region’s smart specialization strategy we are investing heavily in this area, supporting businesses, research and training, in order to develop new skills and activate a high quality supply chain capable of creating new growth and attractive jobs.” 

Moving on to the exhibition proper, the event has featured over 40 exhibitors presenting cutting-edge technologies and systems. Visitors have been able to touch the EHang electric passenger drone and the ZEFHIR U-750 helicopter drone produced by Curti Aerospace, and they will be able to see applications which, thanks also to artificial intelligence (AI), can carry out increasingly complex detection and monitoring activities. For the first time, Dronitaly has also hosted foreign companies from Korea, Spain, USA, China, France, Germany and Slovakia.

Another ‘can’t miss’ appointment during the event has been Leonardo’s Drone Contest. The award ceremony for the winner of the competition was held on the 10th of October while on the 11th of October there will be a special event with the participation of the 7 universities that participated in the contest.

Salvatore Scervo, Head of Leonardo’s Innovation, Labs & Intellectual Property division, said; “The Drone Contest is not only a technical challenge among students, but is a very close collaboration between Leonardo and the Universities and an opportunity for training and developing young talents.”

Furthermore, this year, BFWE has launched a new dissemination format: the ConventionHUB, a special area of 400 sq. m. open on four sides, designed by architect Giancarlo Zema, Guest Designer and Art Director of Dronitaly. This area accommodates a conference room, a space for B2B meetings with stakeholders, and an exhibition of a selection of the best projects underway, including the EHang216-S drone.

Dronitaly has taken place in conjunction with the Fueling Tomorrow events (on the transformation of fuels and on the new energy carriers in the transport and industrial sectors, in the framework of the ecological transition), with SAIE (construction sector), and with Asphaltica (road construction sector). All of these events attract visitors who could potentially be interested in the use of remotely piloted vehicles for their activities.

Platinum Sponsor of the event: Bluenest, EHang, eVertisky and Polis Consulting. Gold Sponsors: Abzero, Aiviewgroup, d-flight, Rina, Smartko, Solapave.

Giuseppe Carusi, President of eVertiSKY, added; “At Dronitaly, we will be seeing innovative solutions for the air traffic management of drones and vertiports, with a focus on advanced control systems for safe integration into the UAM ecosystem and the design of intelligent ground infrastructure.

“Significant growth is expected in the airspace control software market for eVTOL, which could be worth $1.3 billion by 2028, with an annual growth rate of 15.5%. These systems are critical in ensuring safe and optimized operations in future urban environments.”

Bluenest by Globalvia and its Managing Director, Jose Ignacio Rodriguez, said; “It will be a pleasure to host our friends, colleagues, partners and the public and to tell tell them about the progress we have achieved in recent months in the implementation of real vertiport operations and about the flights carried out.

“We will talk about the goals we have achieved in the U-ELCOME DSD project and in the EUREKA SESAR3 Fast Track project, and about the European projects in which we are actively participating for the integration tests of U-Space and Vertiport. We will also showcase extraordinary experiences from Costa Rica, where we operated our first vertiport control solution with eVTOL flights.”

CEO of Polis Consulting, Ciro Antonio Cannelonga, added; “Dronitaly is a unique opportunity for talking about the future of urban mobility.

“Our goal is to constantly innovate and create solutions capable of improving the fruition and safety of complex infrastructure open to the public, we will have the pleasure of presenting a preview at Dronitaly of the exodus and emergency simulations for the vertiports thus far designed, and demonstrate how different transport systems can coexist within the same infrastructure. Our contribution has made it possible to design Vertiports connected to existing infrastructure and demonstrate that there is no increase in the overall risk for users”.