©Skydrone Robotics

THE ACHIEVEMENTS

Aerospace Valley has continued to demonstrate its critical role in supporting the drone sector through regional coordination, technological development and regulatory organization.

In terms of coordination, the Cluster consolidated its position in 2024 as the leading drone community in Europe with 332 members. With over 60 regional actions and support for 19 projects, of which 19 million euros were funded, the cluster has continued to articulate its support around strategic regional priorities, both aeronautic and environmental.

The Cluster has also distinguished itself by coordinating workshops at the Aerospace Summit of Bordeaux, on the impact of drones on society and the environment, and at the EASA Forum on innovative air mobility, affirming its role as an expert in the structural development of the European air space.

In terms of innovation, 35 projects were overseen in 2024, including 15 supported through accreditation or letters of support. Seven were funded with 5,3 M€ in public grants, out of a total of 7,6 M€. the PI VERT project, created during Drone Days, offers advanced forestry mapping by drones. WINDEYES, the BPI winner with 2,7 M€, is developing a robust drone for inspection of offshore wind turbines, run by the Occitane company, TIDAV. In parallel, the BRINDLE program continues to focus on reducing the sound and visual impact of drones to improve their acceptability.

In terms of development, in 2024 Aerospace Valley helped launch the CERTUS project dedicated to certification of drones in compliance with European standards. The cluster fostered cooperation between industrial firms and experts to accelerate their integration into the air space. At the same time, a civil security initiative was launched with the General Staff of the South West zone and the DGSCGC.

The FIRE DRONE project, created in 2023, aims to integrate drones into fighting forest fires, developing a standardized technical benchmark. Workshops organized in 2024 resulted in a future call for solutions planned in 2025. Three experimentation scenarios will enable to test equipment under real conditions. Aerospace Valley is playing a structural role in this project, with the aim of improving the response to natural catastrophes and encouraging industrialization of the sector.

 

SELECTED WEBINARS AND EVENTS

  • BlueEvent "Maritime drones for off shore wind turbines" – 23-24 September 2024  - Bouguenais

  • This event was jointly organized with the Mer Bretagne Atlantique and Mer Méditerranée clusters to discuss using drones (air, land and underwater) for offshore wind turbines. Following a visit of the Saint Nazaire wind farm, round tables on maritime surveillance, the environment and maintenance brought together industrial firms, energy companies, and public bodies to the sector’s regulatory and technological challenges.

  • 11ème Conférence Aerial Firefighting – 25-26 March 2025 - Bordeaux

  • Bringing together over 500 international experts on Aerial firefighting. Aerospace Valley strengthened the visibility of its members and contributed to the round table, “Fire Drone”, concerning the technical and operational frameworks for civil protection drones.

     

FOCUS EUROPE

Since 2021, Aerospace Valley has played an active role within the informal group of drone experts in DG MOVE (European Commission), as a representative of the French academic and industrial ecosystem. The Cluster shares field feedback from the innovative projects it supports and experiments carried out in the region, notably on certification problems, integrating air space, innovative air mobility (UAM) and sustainability. In this way, Aerospace Valley helps connect local innovation to European stakes, while defending the interests of its members, notably SMEs. Its involvement fosters greater consideration of operational realities when designing public policies, and enables to anticipate future regulatory evolutions, closely aligned with the drone sector’s strategic roadmap.

In terms of projects, METASTARS (September 22-February 25) coordinated by Aerospace Valley and funded by the Single Market Programme, has made it possible to support the resilience of aerospace SMEs through deployment of services and funding of innovation projects. Thanks to Metastars, Aerix Systems was able to deploy actions to reinforce the security of its propulsion technology for omnidirectional drones: securing the information system along with training in cybersecurity and social engineering attacks for its employees to prevent foreign attacks on their technology. 

« Since 2022, Windlair has benefited from the invaluable support of Aerospace Valley which has played a critical role in our development within the drone sector in France. There are many examples of collaboration. Their support allowed us to earn accreditation of our drone cargo project via the COMLAB interventions, to challenge our value proposal, to benefit from competitive and technological scanning and to better target our calls for public projects. We were invited to the Drone Days in Bordeaux, Tarbes, and Biscarrosse to meet civil and defence sponsors, and to network with industrial and financial partners critical to the current program. We also had the opportunity to take part in a webinar dedicated to the drone certification strategy, and to be represented at the Blueevent in Nantes on drones in offshore environments. In short, this quick 360° panorama shows the full scope of the services provided by the competitiveness cluster.

A big thanks to the entire team for its commitment in the field, its trust and continuous support. I also would like to thank Arnaud Rimokh for his active contribution to the development of the drone sector in Occitanie and Nouvelle Aquitaine, and beyond.”

Robert ROMA, Sales and Marketing Director, WINDLAIR

©EOS technologies

PROJECTS AND ACTIONS UNDERWAY SINCE MARCH 2025 AND TO COME:

With regard to 2025-2026 ambitions, the drone sector is now expected to deliver targeted, structural, high impact innovations for the regions.

 

MORE CONNECTED

With EUROCLUSTER DRONE for INNOVATION, Aerospace Valley and its European partners will pool their strengths to support SMEs with the maturity ramp-up, fostering transnational cooperation and accelerating the launch of innovative dual drone solutions.

The 4th edition of Drones Day will take place this year in Nouvelle Aquitaine in the city of Biscarrosse. This year’s focus is “Drones from land to sea”. For two days, several issues very much in the forefront of sector news will be discussed: the European regulatory panorama, academic posters, operational needs, without forgetting the networking event fostering the convergence of innovation and concrete usage. In parallel, the drone sector will be represented in 11 other national and European events, positioning Aerospace Valley as a key actor in the debate on developing uses.

MORE SILENT

The BRINDLE joint program, initiated by Aerospace Valley in collaboration with the Ecosystems of Excellence, the Transition Areas and Cluster members, was created to pool expertise on the issue of noise, and launch a systemic approach to noise acceptability: Materials, propellors, and trajectories, among other things, will all be studied to design discreet, better accepted drones through several innovative projects that have already been submitted.

MORE CROSS BORDER INITIATIVES

PYRÉDRONIA, an inter-regional, cross-border initiative led by Aerospace Valley, aims to structure a trans-Pyrenees approach to using drones in mountains including environmental observation, logistics in altitude, and precision agriculture. This project will capitalize on the complementarities between France, Spain and Andorra.

MORE ACCURATE

The Cluster will continue to explore the use of drone swarms for the agricultural sector, with new economic models and multi-usage demonstrators to strengthen the drone-regions value chains.