Getting up-to-date on drones regulations and legislation at Drones East Africa Conference 2017

What: Drones East Africa Conference 2017

Where: Nairobi, Kenya

When: 20 – 21 June, 2017

Who: Connie Schmidt, Esri, Rwanda

Why: Connie Schmidt of Esri, Rwanda, partner in the its4land project, attended the conference to get up-to-date on the status and development of drone regulations and legislation in East Africa. There were presentations on drones safety and security rules which are implemented in the Kenyan regulations and policies, the Kenyan drone approval process and the regulatory progress across East Africa addressing the challenges involved in developing regulations for safe use of drones. This last topic was also discussed in a panel discussion.

Panel discussion

Finally, the conference attendees had the opportunity to discuss with leading solution providers and end users, what their priorities and needs are during an interactive roundtable session dealing with a particular challenge. The four topics addressed were the following:

ROUNDTABLE 1: Discussing future applications and understanding the use of drones for good
ROUNDTABLE 2: Using drones for GIS applications, surveying and mapping?

ROUNDTABLE 3: Using drones for agriculture and building local capacity on the development of drones use in Kenya

ROUNDTABLE 4: Aerial data capture for civil and industrial sites.

Roundtable 2: Using drones for GIS applications, surveying and mapping?, chaired by Gordon Wayumba, Associate Professor in Geospatial Engineering, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi

The second day was dominated by presentations on innovative applications of drones, in healthcare, agriculture, the mining industry, in disaster relief and journalism, along with presentations on new capabilities of drones such as heavy lifting and drones that respond to human hand and facial recognition.

The second day’s panel discussion, bearing the title: Drones for Good: Using drones for improving people’s lives today, informed about the importance to present examples and to educate people about the true value of drones. Another outcome of the discussion was the importance to show the various benefits for humanitarian as well as for commercial activities (e.g. blood transfer, use drones against poaching, for agriculture, for monitoring, during natural disasters etc.) as well as a big need to show the positive impact of drones and their advantages by comparing them with traditional methods.

Panellists from left to right: Dr. Zac Mtema, Senior Research Scientist, Ifakara Health Institute, Bernard Justus Muhwezi, Manager, Geo-Information Services, Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Joel Kaiser, Regional Director, WeRobotics, Maria Stefanopoulos, Production Manager, ABC News