Liverpool City Region set to become a global driving force in drone technology

<p><strong>Drone Major Group&nbsp;has announced&nbsp;the&nbsp;launch&nbsp;of&nbsp;the first&nbsp;ever&nbsp;drone technology&nbsp;&lsquo;Test and&nbsp;Development&nbsp;Area&rsquo;&nbsp;project, to be created in the&nbsp;Liverpool&nbsp;City Region.&nbsp;The project is to be delivered&nbsp;in partnership with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority&nbsp;(LCRCA)&nbsp;and is expected&nbsp;to put&nbsp;the region&nbsp;on the path to become&nbsp;a&nbsp;global&nbsp;leader in&nbsp;the deployment of cutting-edge&nbsp;drone technology.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>This pioneering&nbsp;initiative,&nbsp;entitled&nbsp;Phoenix I, is the first&nbsp;in a series of&nbsp;interconnected projects&nbsp;developed&nbsp;by Drone Major Group,&nbsp;with&nbsp;several&nbsp;regional partners,&nbsp;to deliver, for the first time,&nbsp;commercially viable, scalable and environmentally&nbsp;sustainable&nbsp;drone&nbsp;services across all environments (surface, underwater, air &amp; space), and&nbsp;in all the sectors that are vital&nbsp;for&nbsp;the&nbsp;UK and&nbsp;world economy.&nbsp;The&nbsp;transformational&nbsp;project&nbsp;promises&nbsp;numerous benefits to&nbsp;the&nbsp;City Region,&nbsp;creating&nbsp;new&nbsp;investment and economic growth, employment, skills, education and&nbsp;a cleaner&nbsp;environment.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>LCRCA has played an instrumental&nbsp;convening&nbsp;role&nbsp;working&nbsp;with&nbsp;Drone Major Group&nbsp;to&nbsp;facilitate&nbsp;the active involvement of many&nbsp;of&nbsp;the region&rsquo;s&nbsp;most&nbsp;vital&nbsp;stakeholders&nbsp;in the delivery of the project,&nbsp;including,&nbsp;Peel Ports Group,&nbsp;LogisticsUK, SP Energy&nbsp;Networks,&nbsp;Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)&nbsp;Liverpool&nbsp;John Lennon&nbsp;Airport,&nbsp;the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John&nbsp;Moores&nbsp;University.&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>A&nbsp;roadmap&nbsp;has been created&nbsp;for this&nbsp;unique&nbsp;project which&nbsp;identifies&nbsp;key themes,&nbsp;outlining&nbsp;a clear pathway to&nbsp;develop&nbsp;operational drone capabilities&nbsp;to be delivered&nbsp;in&nbsp;the fields of&nbsp;urban&nbsp;logistics,&nbsp;the environment,&nbsp;security,&nbsp;maritime logistics,&nbsp;port&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;maritime, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;wider&nbsp;community.&nbsp;All projects within the newly established&nbsp;Phoenix&nbsp;programme, which currently comprises&nbsp;10&nbsp;new initiatives addressing these sectors&nbsp;across the UK,&nbsp;will&nbsp;share a common&nbsp;operational model and advanced&nbsp;data analysis&nbsp;to&nbsp;ensure&nbsp;that progress accelerates exponentially.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>This&nbsp;commercially accelerating&nbsp;approach is set to&nbsp;stimulate Liverpool City Region&rsquo;s inward investment opportunities, while&nbsp;enhancing&nbsp;the region&#39;s global recognition&nbsp;as a hub for cutting-edge technological innovation.&nbsp;This is a&nbsp;particularly&nbsp;pivotal&nbsp;time for&nbsp;the&nbsp;City Region, with the&nbsp;Combined Authority&rsquo;s&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;Climate Action Plan&nbsp;crystallising&nbsp;its decarbonisation agenda, together with&nbsp;the grant of Freeport status&nbsp;for Liverpool&nbsp;City Region&nbsp;announced&nbsp;by&nbsp;the Chancellor&nbsp;in his budget speech on&nbsp;3 March 2021.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The&nbsp;Liverpool City Region&nbsp;benefits from&nbsp;some of&nbsp;the&nbsp;country&rsquo;s&nbsp;most&nbsp;outstanding&nbsp;digital infrastructure,&nbsp;academic knowledge&nbsp;and&nbsp;individual&nbsp;experts&nbsp;who will be&nbsp;integral&nbsp;to realising&nbsp;the potential of autonomous&nbsp;drone&nbsp;systems in the UK,&nbsp;such as&nbsp;the&nbsp;University of Liverpool&rsquo;s&nbsp;Centre for Autonomous Systems Technology (CAST),&nbsp;Liverpool Institute&nbsp;for&nbsp;Sustainable Coasts and Oceans (LISCO)&nbsp;and Virtual Engineering Centre&nbsp;(VEC),&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;drone research group at&nbsp;Liverpool John&nbsp;Moores&nbsp;University.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Robert Garbett, Founder of Drone Major Group&nbsp;commented: &ldquo;Drones represent an unprecedented&nbsp;growth&nbsp;opportunity&nbsp;across&nbsp;a huge number of&nbsp;global&nbsp;industries.&nbsp;Liverpool City Region has clearly demonstrated its commendable&nbsp;intent&nbsp;to adopt a sustainable and commercially viable drone technology system&nbsp;for the&nbsp;City,&nbsp;ahead of the curve,&nbsp;which sets an example to all.&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>&ldquo;The potential for this&nbsp;unique collaborative&nbsp;initiative is&nbsp;vast.&nbsp;It enables&nbsp;cities,&nbsp;regions&nbsp;and industries&nbsp;to achieve their&nbsp;potential&nbsp;and&nbsp;will create an overwhelmingly positive impact on&nbsp;UK, and indeed world&nbsp;economic growth through enhanced&nbsp;commerce, employment, skills, education and&nbsp;decarbonisation.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Metro Mayor, Steve&nbsp;Rotheram&nbsp;of the Liverpool City Region added:&nbsp;&ldquo;The Liverpool City Region is a digital powerhouse. We have the world class infrastructure, expertise and ambition to be leaders of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It&rsquo;s fantastic to see the Drone Major Group recognising that by choosing to open their test and development area here.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>&ldquo;This project will deliver new jobs and investment and will attract people to our area not just to work but to study too, knowing that we are working on cutting edge and exciting projects such as this, as well as ambitious plans in everything from digital infrastructure and tidal power.&rdquo;</strong></p> <p><strong><img alt="" src="http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1616840763/92a116a8/33838199.png" style="height:248px; width:600px" /></strong></p>