Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday vowed to be the best ambassador for the drone industry to promote its ecosystem and transform the state into a drone hub.
The chief minister called on drone players to use the southern state as a pilot or testing ground for producing use cases and proof of concepts.
"Andhra Pradesh will be a testing bed for drone applications. Give us your use cases and we will test them," said Naidu, addressing a two-day national drone summit at Mangalagiri in Guntur district.
The chief minister inaugurated the summit. He was accompanied by Union Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu.
Naidu said his government is keen on adopting at least 150 drone use cases during the two-day summit on October 22 and 23.
He said successful pilot projects will be embraced at the state level for national level replication as well.
Highlighting that the drone industry is the "game changer" of the future, he said these unmanned aerial vehicles have multiple use cases, such as identifying traffic violations, criminals and in farming, among several others.
The TDP supremo noted that the state government aims to hand over 20,000 drone pilot certificates and achieve 80 per cent indigenisation in drone manufacturing.
Assuring to allot 300 acres of land to the Civil Aviation Ministry, Naidu urged the Centre to set up a drone certification hub at Orvakal in Kurnool district, which is near Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Amaravati.
Further, the CM appealed to drone players to keep their costs reasonable to enable wider adoption of this technology.
Citing the utility of drones, Naidu explained how they were used during the recent Vijayawada floods to deliver food and identify tonnes of garbage to clear it.
Announcing plans to train 35,000 drone pilots, Naidu said the state will position itself as a human resource hub for drone technology and also meet the growing demand for drones in various industries.
Promising a comprehensive drone policy in 15 days, the CM said a business-friendly environment will be established for drone innovators and manufacturers.
Terming data as the 'new wealth', he said 400 million terabytes of data is being generated daily, which when combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning could drive unimaginable innovations.
The CM delved on the rise of the knowledge economy, driven by AI, machine learning and cloud technology and called for the creation of a robust ecosystem for knowledge-based industries in Andhra Pradesh.
On the occasion, the Andhra Pradesh government inked an agreement with the Quality Council of India (QCI) for certifying drone startups in the state.
There was also an agreement between IIT-Tirupati and Technology Innovative Hub for collaboration in drone technology development, startups and skill initiatives.
Later, Naidu released a concept note on drone policy and also inaugurated a drone expo at the venue.
He said the state government will submit a report of the summit outcome to the Centre for actionable insights at the national level.
Earlier, Union Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said that the government does not want to import drones as it envisages the people of the country to manufacture them.
The aviation minister noted that the Centre has relaxed rules for the drone ecosystem and enabled 27 companies to benefit from the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Pointing out that India has emerged as a drone hub in the past few years, the union minister said the government wants to push the industry further.
"Looking at a drone hub in Andhra Pradesh in the future... want to ensure that Andhra Pradesh grows to the best of its ability," he said, adding that the government wants to ensure that the southern state will emerge as the drone hub of the world.
The mega-drone summit will feature drone hackathons, exhibitions and participation from industry experts.
As many as 1,711 delegates and 1,306 visitors are expected to attend the summit.
Likewise, over 8,000 people are also expected to attend the summit, which will be followed by a drone show at Punnami Ghat in Vijayawada on Tuesday.
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