The World Bank and World Economic Forum (WEF) is partnering with the Rwandan government to host the Africa Drone Forum and Flying competition. WEF took to twitter to announce a partnership.
JUST ANNOUNCED at #af19: Africa's largest #drone gathering @ADF_rising is going to Rwanda! 🎉
Scheduled for Feb 2020 it'll feature a flying competition on #LakeKivu + expo & symposium in Kigali co-hosted by @RwandaGov.
Follow us for details, or visit: https://t.co/b7x8vaVFDu pic.twitter.com/u62uKm8QWh
— African Drone Forum (@ADF_rising) September 4, 2019
The Africa Drone Forum (ADF) and Flying Competitions, is an event that showcases the use of drones and its different purposes. The event will take place in Rwanda by February 2020.
See also: Alibaba partners Rwanda to Launch a 4-year eCommerce Training for Rwandan students
The flying competition is a platform for startups and businesses that leverage the drone technology to compete and showcase their discoveries. The competitions will be in a three-stage process: initial application, a detailed technical review of the drone platform, and the actual flying.
Paula Ingabire, the Rwandan Minister of ICT and Innovation, revealed that the Rwandan government is glad to host the Africa Drone Forum. She noted that the event will be an opportunity for the country to share their experience as forerunners of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), an unmanned aerial vehicle operation.
In her words; “It’s an opportunity for Rwanda to share our experience in pioneering the use of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) UAV operations, and our development of drone regulations.”
WEF also revealed that Rwanda was selected as the host for being the first to use medical delivery drones. Another reason for the selection was because of their policies permitting the use of applications that will be displayed at the competition.
According to Riccardo Puliti, the World Bank’s regional director for Africa, the flying competition will boost new industries and services. It aims to open the engineers, entrepreneurs, regulators and investors minds to new markets.
He said, “The flying competitions will promote new industries and services, harness data for delivery and resilience, create activity hubs and opportunities to leapfrog technologies, and develop skill sets for 21st-century jobs in the region and beyond.”
WEF will liaise with regulators across Africa on how to create policies that enable the safe deployment of drone technologies in their own countries. Applications for Africa Drone Forum and Flying Competition closes on September 30, 2019. Click here to apply
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