What’s the best way to bring harmony to your managed drone program? 

Ed Boucas is the Founder and CEO of Votix, an American robotics company pioneering an enterprise software platform for orchestration, operation and automation of drones and robots. The platform addresses and solves drone program challenges such as productivity, safety and governance.  VOTIX is a powerful and complete cloud-based software-as-a-service solution designed to support all drone manufacturers automating drone-based workflows. The solution is flexible and easy to use, reduces process time, optimizes resources and minimizes risk for a wide range of applications. 

Ed is a technology entrepreneur and investor, with more than 20 years experience in creating and leading innovative companies.  He started his entrepreneurial career as the Founder & CEO of Cipher in 2000, a global leader in the cybersecurity industry with operations in 15 countries.  

Ed led two rounds of multimillion-dollar private equity investments and as the majority shareholder sold the company to Prosegur, a 5 Billion dollar European publicly traded company and leader in the private security industry.  Ed is also the Founder & Chairman of Blockbit, a next-generation cloud and network security technology company with over 3,000 active corporate clients, over 1 million users and with presence in 10 countries.  

In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Ed talks about Votix, the concept of drone orchestration and how Votix is helping companies more effortlessy manage, stream and fly their drones.  

What’s the secret of longevity in the drone industry?

Cameron Chell is CEO and President of Draganfly, a leader in the professional drone industry for more than 22 years.  The company is the creator of quality, cutting-edge drone solutions, software and AI systems that revolutionize the way organizations can do business and service their stakeholders. Recognized as being at the forefront of technology for the past two decades, Draganfly serves the public safety, agriculture, industrial inspections, security, mapping and surveying markets. The company is driven by passion, ingenuity, and the need to provide efficient solutions and first-class services to its customers around the world with the goal of saving time, money, and lives.

Cameron has been a technology entrepreneur for more than 30 years and has spent his career growing a diverse collection of high-potential ideas into revolutionary companies that have changed the way we experience the world.  He takes a hands-on leadership role in projects, infusing innovation and adoption with the operational principles of clarity, alignment, and measurement into the culture of every team he works with.

I had the pleasure of meeting Cameron at this year’s Commercial UAV Expo, where the company unveiled three new cutting-edge North American-made technologies.  Following the event, I spoke had a zoom call with Cameron to record this podcast.

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Cameron talks about Draganfly, the new additions to the Draganfly product line, the company’s efforts to support Ukraine in its war effort and he offers several perspectives on the current state and direction of the drone industry and how Draganfly has remained leader in the industry for so long.

What’s the Latest Coming Out of the Commercial Drone Industry? 

Lisa Ellman is Executive Director of the Commercial Drone Alliance, an independent non-profit organization led by key members of the commercial drone industry.  The Alliance advocates for the commercial use of drones by reducing barriers to enable the technology. It creates value for commercial enterprise end users to facilitate adoption of drone technology, and educates on the benefits of UAS for various end user communities.  

Lisa is widely recognized as one of the “world’s foremost authorities” on drone policy and law. She was featured in Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" series for her efforts to develop policy governing drone use in the United States. In addition to her role with the Commercial Drone Alliance, Lisa is also a Partner at Hogan Lovells and Chair of the firm’s global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Practice Group, a “one-stop shop” for all legal and policy issues related to commercial drones. 

In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Lisa talks about the Commercial Drone Alliance, a recent White House Summit on Advanced Air Mobility, the status of the FAA BVLOS ARC report and the Commercial UAV Expo, which is going on as we speak in Las Vegas.