On Saturday September 14th, projects employing drones to help disaster victims in the Philippines and to detect landmines received the Drone Social Innovation Award accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize.
The award was created by the Drone User Group Network, a community that aims to teach proper use of unmanned aerial vehicles. This association is joint-funded by the UAS America Fund and NEXA Capital Partners.
The awards ceremony was held in Dallas, TX, and highlighted key players that are using unmanned aerial vehicles to change our world for the better. Drone User Group Network Founder, Timothy Reuter, noted how in past years with the decrease in drone prices, the bar has been raised among non-profits and non-government funded agencies.
“We received an incredible variety of entries ranging from people using drones to teach STEM skills to kids on the autism spectrum, collecting whale snot for marine conservation research, and recording the size of protest movements in countries that are trying to suppress dissidents,” Reuter said in a press release.
The application process required organizations to submit a YouTube video accompanied by a write-up. The two projects that won will split the $10,000 cash prize, which will hopefully lead to organizational expansion.
The goal of the Drone Social Innovation Award is to highlight those organizations with the highest social impact as well as an easily recreated operation.
This ceremony truly shows the capability for the positive, and sometimes life-saving, impact of this technology.