APEX wants remotely-piloted aircraft systems to really take off in southeast Alberta
“In Alberta, right now, there’s actually not an RPAS strategy. So most industries, they, they have that. And so it provides a guiding framework to go forward. So that doesn’t exist right now,” said Stroud. “So that’s what we’re going to create. The funding has allowed us to hire our subject matter experts, which was Roger Haessel, who was at the event, and he is really reaching out to companies, locally and across Alberta, to find out, hey, what are your needs? And what are your opportunities, and what would basically help fill those gaps, both from a training perspective, business support perspective?”
One thing that APEX is currently particularly looking into is training for the sector, said Stroud, and is in fact in the college portion of the partnership hiring someone to take a deeper look.
“So they will look at post-secondaries across Alberta, and find out what already exists for training, but what is missing. The college has the intro program, the basics, but the tech is growing so fast that additional education is needed,” said Stroud. “And so this other position that will be hired will look at that. And those two individuals will come back after the end of this year, which is March 31, for us of 2023. And they will create this just before that day to day will create this strategy for the sector going forward.”
Between this, and the increased desire for visibility which was expressed at the event, APEX and those who attended will have their hands full in the near future, but the flight path seems clear and Stroud is optimistic for the future of the RPAS industry.
Stroud added that APEX’s interest doesn’t stop and end with drones, however, and encouraged “problem solver” companies doing something innovative to reach out and see what support they can find working together.
“A lot of companies in our region don’t think of themselves as tech companies. What I find is the companies that we’re working with are problem solvers,” said Stroud. “So they’ve solved a problem in a unique and novel way that hasn’t been done before. So if a company is reading this, and they’re like, Oh, I’ve done this, please reach out to us because there’s support so that we can help them and they don’t have to do it all on their own. If a company is doing this all on their own, please reach out to us. Because we can provide support, obviously, the company still has to do the work. The individual still has to do the work, but we can at least provide them with the path to get them there.”