Drone Port West Flanders: research, innovation and testing

The drone sector is a sector in full development and encompasses a variety of technologies (both airborne, ground and waterborne) and a multitude of potential applications and associated economic opportunities. Within the Province of West Flanders, the need has been identified to support this burgeoning sector in a coordinated manner and to attract, develop and embed the appropriate knowledge and facilities within West Flanders for the purpose of research and innovation. Drone Hub initiatives are already being developed for this purpose in Koksijde, Ostend and Zeebrugge. The required cooperation between these initiatives is given shape via the DronePort West-Vlaanderen partnership with the POM as coordinator. Through this project, the partners wish to make the research, innovation and testing element of the DronePort West-Vlaanderen partnership concrete through a number of targeted investments and activities to promote and facilitate co-creation and innovation. On the one hand, the focus is on the start-up of a province-wide operation that unites and strengthens the 3 locations through a number of investments for the benefit of the 3 locations (eg in the field of data management and data communication). In addition, a number of investments are planned at the Koksijde site, where the spatial possibilities both on the ground and in terms of airspace form an ideal environment for research and testing activities.