Rome 01 July 2020 12:04
- Leonardo's Drone Contest was presented today, during a virtual symposium. The contestrepresents an opportunity for Open Innovation and collaboration between industry and universities which creates synergies between development and academic research in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Sensor Fusion, and Machine Learning
- The objective of the project, promoted by Leonardo, in collaboration with six Italian universities, is to encourage the development of technologies related to Artificial Intelligence when applied to uncrewed systems, generating an ecosystem by which large enterprises, universities, SMEs, spin-offs and start-ups can interact
- Drone Contest is the only competition in Italy with competing universities in an Artificial Intelligence race. The contest will develop over a three-year basis; the first race, scheduled for 18 September 2020, will see teams from the Polytechnic of Turin, the Polytechnic of Milan, the University of Bologna, the S. Anna School of Pisa, the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the University of Naples Federico II
Today the first edition of Leonardo's Drone Contest was presented at a virtual symposium, titled "Drone Contest. An Open Innovation Challenge". It is designed and organised by Leonardo, a global high-tech company and national champion in the sectors of Aerospace, Defence and Security. The official launch of the contest took place during Leonardo's Innovation Day in Turin, last year.
The project is presented as an Open Innovation opportunity and a collaboration between industry and universities that aims to create a synergy between development and academic research in relation to the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Sensor Fusion, and Machine Learning. Leonardo's Drone Contest aims to encourage the development of both technologies related to artificial intelligence applied to uncrewed systems and the creation of an ecosystem that involves, in a virtuous intertwining, large enterprises, universities, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), spin-offs and start-ups.
The initiative, promoted by Leonardo, sees the collaboration of six important universities in the country: the Polytechnic of Turin, the Polytechnic of Milan, the University of Bologna, the S. Anna School of Pisa, the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the University of Naples Federico II. It is the only competition in Italy by which universities compete in an Artificial Intelligence competition.
The challenge, officially started in November 2019, will end in 2022, and during the contest the PhD students, supported by professors and in collaboration with the university and Leonardo teams, will have to develop and propose the most innovative capabilities of uncrewed drone systems.
The first challenge of the Drone Contest will take place in Turin on 18 September 2020 and on that occasion the first results and potential of the respective projects will be analysed. Each year, the universities, divided into teams, will compete in a scientific symposium and with specific competitions. Leonardo supports, for three years, the activity of the six PhD students of the universities involved with scholarships for the annual comparison in competitions and aimed at fostering research and innovation.
The presentation symposium, held today in a digital mode and moderated by Federico Ferrazza, Director of Wired Italia, was introduced by Laurent Sissmann, Senior Vice President Uncrewed Systems at Leonardo: "In the future, the use of uncrewed technologies will increase and the Drone Contest is a fundamental step in Leonardo's path to create today a strong ecosystem in the sector that can lead, thanks to technological progress and regulatory evolutions, to the development of new business models".
Afterwards a dialogue took place titled "The technologies and challenges that will change the future"
with Roberto Cingolani, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer Leonardo. "The Drone Contest is a test of the future. A future that will be characterised by the use of uncrewed systems that will perform a spectrum of activities that man will never be able to perform with the same effectiveness and depth
of analysis", said Cingolani.
During the symposium the Universities, with the PhD students of the Leonardo scholarships and the professors of the departments involved, presented the teams working on the project and the technological developments they have achieved and will use for the September challenge.
Creating and nurturing new goals in advanced technologies is at the heart of Leonardo's present and future objectives, perfectly in line and consistent with the Open Innovation process; the Drone Contest represents a new fundamental piece of the project that will show new and innovative results
in the first competition on 18th September.
Today Leonardo is the only company in Europe able to provide complete remote piloting solutions - designing and developing all the elements of a "drone based" system - for intelligence missions, surveillance, monitoring, information acquisition, integrating platforms, radar and electro-optical sensors, mission systems and ground control stations. The development of uncrewed technologies and applications is one of the key goals of Leonardo's strategic Plan, which aims to follow a path of sustainable growth and increase the Group's competitiveness in the long-term.