SAFIR-Med completes first series of medical delivery drone trials

On 7 April, Future Needs and the partners of the SAFIR-Med project proudly organised an open day to showcase the work progress on enabling the use of drones for medical service delivery. The event happened in parallel to the ongoing flight trials of the various platforms. 

Encouraged by the rapid growth in unmanned aerial systems and an evolving regulatory environment, the healthcare industry is embracing new opportunities for faster, more efficient transport of vaccines, samples, and emergency equipment while at the same time lowering environmental impact.

The event showcased the various medical use cases, including the transport of human tissue, biological lab samples and medicine, automated external defibrillators and patients with the use of unmanned air vehicles.  Current figures show only 1 in 10 out-of-hospital casualties survive a heart attack, yet every minute saved in delivering an automated external defibrillator (AED) to a patient improves their life chances by 10%.  Supporting technologies were showcased and evaluated during the de-risking exercises in Droneport, preparing further improvements for the upcoming demonstrations in Antwerp and the Meuse-Rhine region. 

The conference was structured in three sessions: Impact of U-space on cities, technologies developed in SAFIR-Med and Introduction of the use cases. The event attendees had the opportunity to find out about what is going on in the sector within the EU, from authorities, leading aviation and medical actors, as well as to network with the partners and learn more about their work at their respective booths.