Seven-figure funding to boost county's drone innovation

The University of Central Lancashire's plan to help business embrace drone technology has been bolstered by two backers contributing a total of £3.2m.

The European Regional Development Fund’s business support programme has contributed £1.8m which will be invested in providing specialist drone technology and related research and development support to SMEs across the county.

The support will include workshops and hands-on technical demonstrations as well as collaborations with the university's experts to help bring new products to market.

UCLan's Lancashire Drone Command and Control Centre project has also received £1.4m from the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The funding has facilitated the purchase of new drone-related technologies and equipment to enhance the facilities already available in its £35m Engineering Innovation Centre. The investment will enable the university to provide long-term support and research capabilities to drone sector businesses and drone end users in the region.

All together, the funding is anticipated to create up to 100 highly skilled jobs, support 265 businesses and add £4.5m to the county's Gross Value Added.

The funding also builds upon Preston’s selection as a UK test city for drone use as part of the Nesta Flying High Challenge competition in 2018, an Aerial Uptake European project involving a partnership between Preston City Council and UCLan in 2019 and the opening of UCLan’s EIC.

Darren Ansell, Professor of Aerospace at UCLan, said: "This is a game-changer for us as the additional investment allows us to scale up our engagement with companies in the region in order to help increase levels of innovation and create new, high level jobs for the future.

"This funding will place UCLan, Preston and the North West at the very heart of this high-growth industry, enabling us to develop world-class expertise, jobs and economic growth for the region."

Sarah Kemp, the chief executive of the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “Here in the North West we have one of the largest clusters of aerospace activity in the world. The Lancashire Drone Innovation Zone has the potential to capitalise on this fact by rapidly driving progress in drone use, enabling industry and the public sector to exploit opportunities presented by a fast-growing global drone market. 

"Encouraging innovation in new emerging markets in the aerospace sector is a priority for Lancashire and an important part of the county’s response to the UK’s industrial strategy."

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