The Drone Fusion platform has been live since the Amsterdam Drone Week in April 2022. A new online community for drone professionals from all over the world. The initiator of Drone Fusion is Thierry Tartarin, a PhD candidate at TU Delft and researcher at the Saxion research group Business Models. We talked to him about Drone Fusion. To talk about the platform’s progress, the valuable relationships that have been established and which beautiful developments are already visible. We can already name a few! Meanwhile, 22 different countries are present at Drone Fusion.
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Thierry is involved in his research into drone applications for a circular world. He states: “During my research, I noticed that there are many developments worldwide in drone technology, but we are not always able to find each other. We must avoid reinventing the wheel every time but rather take that step further together. I found out that there was no place where I could find other researchers and drone professionals to talk to each other. My goal with Drone Fusion is to establish relationships between drone professionals without time or distance being an obstacle. On your profile page, you indicate your expertise and wishes; based on this information, you’ll be able to find the right contacts and vice versa.”
Focused and Dedicated
Drone Fusion works slightly differently than LinkedIn, for example. To join the community, you need to fill out an extensive questionnaire. This way, fellow users know what your expertise lies and what area of interest is. All this helps find the person you’re looking for when using the search function. You can send a person a message to make the first contact without sharing further contact information. Thierry: “For example, someone from a consortium I wasn’t familiar with approached me and told me about an interesting symposium on noise reduction. I would never have come into contact without this platform. And that is exactly my goal. Make these relationships. So you can already see that the platform is paying off, with new users joining us every day.”
Knowledge cross-pollination
You automatically meet people from other companies or institutes by making new connections via Drone Fusion. People who may have the same challenges as you have or just have found a solution to a problem you still face. Thierry: “Usually, you don’t meet these people spontaneously. You are in your own ‘business bubble’, and you try to come up with solutions yourself. By placing everyone with the same expertise together, they can level up very well with each other and share experiences. Through Drone Fusion, I try to create the right breeding ground to look at new approaches together, without you bringing sensitive company information to the table.” In addition, the website contains a knowledge database where all members can upload and download documents and videos.
Drone dating on location
An idea for the future is to bring the online platform together at offline events. Something like “drone dating”. On Drone Fusion, you indicate whether you are attending the Amsterdam Drone Week, for example. This way, you know whom you can shake hands with during the event, in real life, at some Drone Fusion meeting point. In addition, Drone Fusion Days are in the pipeline. These are branded events that can take place anywhere in the world. About issues that play a role in that country, such as regulations or education. Thierry adds: “We don’t organize the events, but we provide a platform and a brand to announce and promote the event. There will be face-to-face meetings for everyone already online on Drone Fusion. We are looking forward to the first edition!”
Join the Drone Fusion community!
Create your profile at Drone Fusion and start meeting fellow drone professionals!
