“The Swiss flag flew next to the UAE flag over the podium”
23.02.2015
Flyability has won the «Drones For Good Award» in Dubai, with a prize of 1 Million dollars. A welcome sum for our venture kick Alumnus and venture leaders USA, who will now be able to apply its rescue drone, Gimball, to commercial uses.
 © Drones For Good
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On the 7th of February, Flyability won enough funding to accelerate the commercialization of Gimball, a civil drone capable of entering confined spaces and nearing people without danger. Its rotating cage allows it to handle difficult environments without losing its stability. Flyability is a spin-off from NCCR Robotics and the laboratory of Professor Dario Floreano at the EPFL (LIS Lab). Its technology is proof that flying robotics made in Switzerland has the potential to conquer the world and spawn a “Drone Valley” between EPFL and Zurich universities such as ETH. Let us recall that in 2012, the two venture kick alumni and EPFL spin-offs senseFly (also from the LIS lab) and Pix4D wooed the large industrial group Parrot. This was possible thanks to eBee, a bio-robotics inspired drone capable of mapping an area in a completely autonomous manner, and a powerful 3D mapping software.
A strong market growth
Flyability is aiming for the niche market that is indoor flying, as well as flying in confined spaces. Its first clients are interested in industrial inspections of sites for electrical or chemical production, and even bridges, tunnels or chimneys. “Before Dubai, rescue applications were in our long-term vision. In this market, which is now in full expansion, it is very difficult to fund a product that is still in development. This prize clearly brings rescue upon our list of priorities”, explains Patrick Thévoz, CEO of Flyability, from Dubai. The startup is still looking for 1 Million Swiss francs to meet its objectives.
In addition to rescue, civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications are numerous, such as surveillance, agriculture, media and more recently, package delivery. And these small flying robots are poised to conquer the world. According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the global market for civil and commercial UAVs is expected to reach two billion dollars this year. A study by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) revealed that the US market alone for civil drones will represent $ 80 Billion for the 2015-2025 decade.
Improve people's lives
The Drones For Good Award, organized by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, is the only competition of this kind in the world. It aims to be active in turning innovative technologies into practical solutions to improve people's lives. For Flyability, the competition was a unique opportunity to show that its technology has much to contribute to society: "Passionate teams like ours can go ahead and make that a reality. Flyability will now be able to go where it is normally dangerous for emergency responders, and help save many lives." Since a few weeks, the Ecublens-based startup’s mailbox is exploding with collaboration proposals from Gulf countries but also from around the world.
Drones, a new “eldorado” for the United Arab Emirates? According to Patrick Thévoz, "the royal family is personally interested in drones. This is part of Dubai’s diversification strategy, which involves new technologies. There is already some talk of a future edition of the competition dedicated to robotics in general. "
"A pole of Swiss skills"
In Dubai, Flyability showed the full potential of its technology to an international jury. During demonstrations in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (2nd from the left on the picture), against 39 other competitors: "We were the only ones to offer a completely different design to overcome one of the major challenges of the flying robotic, which is flying near obstacles and humans," says Patrick Thévoz.
They were also the only Swiss startup in the competition: "The Swiss flag flew next to the UAE flag over the podium, but I do not think the 'Made in Switzerland' tag was instrumental. We were competing with many other countries (Germany, Spain, England, USA and Australia, among others). However, it is certain that a true centre of excellence in flying robotics is emerging in Switzerland."
Swiss startups interest industry
If Flyability recently won the heart of the United Arab Emirates, other venture kick Alumni have also attracted the industry. In 2012, Parrot, a global leader in wireless devices for mobile, acquired a majority share of senseFly, a spin-off from EPFL, for the sum of $5 Million. They also injected 2.4 Million francs in Pix4D, a startup from the School of Computer and Communication Science of the EPFL, active in the calculation of 3D images.
As early as 2010, Parrot was investing in consumer drones market. It has sold more than 700,000 models of the AR.Drone, a small device capable of taking photos and videos. Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux was also the guest of venturelab in November 2014, with the CEOs of senseFly and Pix4D. He gave his impressions of the quality of Swiss startups, and the reasons which led to investing in the two EPFL startups. You can live the event and listen to Henri Seydoux, Jean-Christophe Zufferey and Christoph Strecha in a video of the event linked here.
Another venture kick alumnus, VISNX, is active in the field of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It develops optical sensors for environmental uses or in the field of agriculture.
Valuable support from venture kick and venturelab
Just like senseFly and Pix4D, Flyability passed the successive stages of venture kick and qualified for the final. It also received intensive commercial development workshops (kicker camps) in the program: "When launching a startup in Switzerland, before the first investors and the first sales and after exhausting personal finances, venture kick is for many entrepreneurs the boost needed to survive a few more precious months to prepare for the next steps. Besides the financial aspect, many members of the venture kick jury helped us by putting us in contact with potential clients and investors. In addition, the passage of each stage of venture kick is recognized as a serious pledge by Swiss business angels. However, I want to emphasize that this financial aspect, which we sometimes want to put in the background in favour of more noble support, is precisely what is cruelly lacking for startups during their first months. venture kick is the only one to fulfil this role, and it does it very well”, said Patrick Thévoz.
To complete the picture and add an international dimension to the activities of the Swiss startup, Patrick Thévoz went to Boston and New York in June 2014, with the venture leaders USA program. A beneficial experience: "In addition to testing our mettle in front of US venture capitalists (VC), venture leaders helped us build a powerful network of Swiss entrepreneurs with whom we still maintain close contact."
Drone Apps, the place to be for drone specialists and innovators in September 2015 at EPFL
Drone specialists (and even amateurs), mark your calendar! The "Drone Apps conference: Experience how drones are changing your business" (droneapps.co), will take place at the EPFL SwissTech Convention Center, on the 14th and 15th of September.
Though drones have already proven their impact on the economy, humanitarian aid, media, entertainment and art, public mistrust and a lack of regulation hampers their immense potential for innovation. Drone Apps aims to help the UAV industry to gain recognition and support through demonstrations and discussions on their economic and social impact, while connecting industrial players with inventors and legislators. "We want to bring together business users (here for civilian applications), inventors (e.g. researchers, suppliers) and airspace regulators to discuss the best uses, new technological solutions and the best ways to regulate drones, the latter being the ‘nerve of war’" says Simon Johnson, co-organizer of Drone Apps with Benoit Curdy. "The Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) is our partner on the thorny issue of regulation and we are in contact with competent authorities all around the world".
Many specialists from the sector, entrepreneurs, researchers and industry experts will attend to discuss Drone Apps civilian drones and their potential and regulation, such as Henri Seydoux, CEO of Parrot, Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and founder of DIY Drones, Vijay Kumar, Professor at the UPS Foundation, Jean-Christophe Zufferey, CEO of senseFly, Jesper Falk, responsible for surveying at COWI and Patrick Meier, leader and thinker in the field of technologies for humanitarian purposes.
A "million dollar video": Gimball at the Drones For Good final in Dubai
Meet Gimball, the "human friendly" drone in video (© EPFL 2013):
senseFly presents "Mapping the impossible" or how its engineers have mapped the Matterhorn in 3D for the first time in the world:
A strong market growth
Flyability is aiming for the niche market that is indoor flying, as well as flying in confined spaces. Its first clients are interested in industrial inspections of sites for electrical or chemical production, and even bridges, tunnels or chimneys. “Before Dubai, rescue applications were in our long-term vision. In this market, which is now in full expansion, it is very difficult to fund a product that is still in development. This prize clearly brings rescue upon our list of priorities”, explains Patrick Thévoz, CEO of Flyability, from Dubai. The startup is still looking for 1 Million Swiss francs to meet its objectives.
In addition to rescue, civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications are numerous, such as surveillance, agriculture, media and more recently, package delivery. And these small flying robots are poised to conquer the world. According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the global market for civil and commercial UAVs is expected to reach two billion dollars this year. A study by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) revealed that the US market alone for civil drones will represent $ 80 Billion for the 2015-2025 decade.
Improve people's lives
The Drones For Good Award, organized by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, is the only competition of this kind in the world. It aims to be active in turning innovative technologies into practical solutions to improve people's lives. For Flyability, the competition was a unique opportunity to show that its technology has much to contribute to society: "Passionate teams like ours can go ahead and make that a reality. Flyability will now be able to go where it is normally dangerous for emergency responders, and help save many lives." Since a few weeks, the Ecublens-based startup’s mailbox is exploding with collaboration proposals from Gulf countries but also from around the world.
Drones, a new “eldorado” for the United Arab Emirates? According to Patrick Thévoz, "the royal family is personally interested in drones. This is part of Dubai’s diversification strategy, which involves new technologies. There is already some talk of a future edition of the competition dedicated to robotics in general. "
"A pole of Swiss skills"
In Dubai, Flyability showed the full potential of its technology to an international jury. During demonstrations in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (2nd from the left on the picture), against 39 other competitors: "We were the only ones to offer a completely different design to overcome one of the major challenges of the flying robotic, which is flying near obstacles and humans," says Patrick Thévoz.
They were also the only Swiss startup in the competition: "The Swiss flag flew next to the UAE flag over the podium, but I do not think the 'Made in Switzerland' tag was instrumental. We were competing with many other countries (Germany, Spain, England, USA and Australia, among others). However, it is certain that a true centre of excellence in flying robotics is emerging in Switzerland."
Swiss startups interest industry
If Flyability recently won the heart of the United Arab Emirates, other venture kick Alumni have also attracted the industry. In 2012, Parrot, a global leader in wireless devices for mobile, acquired a majority share of senseFly, a spin-off from EPFL, for the sum of $5 Million. They also injected 2.4 Million francs in Pix4D, a startup from the School of Computer and Communication Science of the EPFL, active in the calculation of 3D images.
As early as 2010, Parrot was investing in consumer drones market. It has sold more than 700,000 models of the AR.Drone, a small device capable of taking photos and videos. Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux was also the guest of venturelab in November 2014, with the CEOs of senseFly and Pix4D. He gave his impressions of the quality of Swiss startups, and the reasons which led to investing in the two EPFL startups. You can live the event and listen to Henri Seydoux, Jean-Christophe Zufferey and Christoph Strecha in a video of the event linked here.
Another venture kick alumnus, VISNX, is active in the field of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It develops optical sensors for environmental uses or in the field of agriculture.
Valuable support from venture kick and venturelab
Just like senseFly and Pix4D, Flyability passed the successive stages of venture kick and qualified for the final. It also received intensive commercial development workshops (kicker camps) in the program: "When launching a startup in Switzerland, before the first investors and the first sales and after exhausting personal finances, venture kick is for many entrepreneurs the boost needed to survive a few more precious months to prepare for the next steps. Besides the financial aspect, many members of the venture kick jury helped us by putting us in contact with potential clients and investors. In addition, the passage of each stage of venture kick is recognized as a serious pledge by Swiss business angels. However, I want to emphasize that this financial aspect, which we sometimes want to put in the background in favour of more noble support, is precisely what is cruelly lacking for startups during their first months. venture kick is the only one to fulfil this role, and it does it very well”, said Patrick Thévoz.
To complete the picture and add an international dimension to the activities of the Swiss startup, Patrick Thévoz went to Boston and New York in June 2014, with the venture leaders USA program. A beneficial experience: "In addition to testing our mettle in front of US venture capitalists (VC), venture leaders helped us build a powerful network of Swiss entrepreneurs with whom we still maintain close contact."
Drone Apps, the place to be for drone specialists and innovators in September 2015 at EPFL
Drone specialists (and even amateurs), mark your calendar! The "Drone Apps conference: Experience how drones are changing your business" (droneapps.co), will take place at the EPFL SwissTech Convention Center, on the 14th and 15th of September.
Though drones have already proven their impact on the economy, humanitarian aid, media, entertainment and art, public mistrust and a lack of regulation hampers their immense potential for innovation. Drone Apps aims to help the UAV industry to gain recognition and support through demonstrations and discussions on their economic and social impact, while connecting industrial players with inventors and legislators. "We want to bring together business users (here for civilian applications), inventors (e.g. researchers, suppliers) and airspace regulators to discuss the best uses, new technological solutions and the best ways to regulate drones, the latter being the ‘nerve of war’" says Simon Johnson, co-organizer of Drone Apps with Benoit Curdy. "The Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) is our partner on the thorny issue of regulation and we are in contact with competent authorities all around the world".
Many specialists from the sector, entrepreneurs, researchers and industry experts will attend to discuss Drone Apps civilian drones and their potential and regulation, such as Henri Seydoux, CEO of Parrot, Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and founder of DIY Drones, Vijay Kumar, Professor at the UPS Foundation, Jean-Christophe Zufferey, CEO of senseFly, Jesper Falk, responsible for surveying at COWI and Patrick Meier, leader and thinker in the field of technologies for humanitarian purposes.
A "million dollar video": Gimball at the Drones For Good final in Dubai
Meet Gimball, the "human friendly" drone in video (© EPFL 2013):
senseFly presents "Mapping the impossible" or how its engineers have mapped the Matterhorn in 3D for the first time in the world: