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Let me count the ways that cargo drone companies from developing countries keep getting screwed. They rarely have VC connections; don’t get international media attention; don’t have favorable drone regulations in their countries; can’t get drone pilot licenses locally, and ... 1/
... if that weren’t enough, they also get screwed with travel visas. Let me explain that last one. Most high profile cargo drone companies tend to be American, European or Australian. For most of the countries we work in (FlyingLabs.org), one can get ... 2/
... an eVisa and/or a visa on arrival *if* you just happen to have a US, EU or Australian passport. News flash: local cargo drone companies from developing countries don’t have staff with said passports. So they have to go through a far more time-consuming, intrusive ... 3/
... and costly process for those all too rare occasions when they are invited to partner on a project in another country. All of these barriers to entry make it almost impossible for local cargo drone companies in developing countries to ... 4/
... participate in and directly benefit from the so called 4th Industrial Revolution. And so what do the majority of governments, international org’s and donors do when they want a cargo drone project? Hint: they don’t or can’t hire local companies from developing countries. 5/
But they do hire more expensive cargo drone companies from the US, EU and Australia. Why expensive? Some of these companies request a much higher consulting rate (think double) and business class flights, for example. But wait, it gets more interesting... 6/
US, EU and Australian aid assistance includes important funding opportunities for US, EU and Australian cargo drone companies to experiment and innovate in developing countries. How can local cargo drone companies compete with this? In one case, a US cargo drone company ... 7/
... received considerable funding from US aid (and sources) to run a series of demo flights. In 2 countries, these resulted in crashes. In 1 other country, word was that things didn’t work. The US aid donor knew beforehand that this US cargo drone company had serious issues... 8/
Another cargo drone company (from one of the other Western countries) openly said they were first doing projects in developing countries precisely because regulations were less strict there. This allows them to improve their drone tech and enables them to “prove” to ... 9/
... their own aviation authorities back home that their drones are safe to fly over Western cities because they’ve been tested in developing countries. This is key to their business model, as they explained to their own country’s news media. Seems like their projects in ... 10/
... developing countries seems to be just a means to an end, a side show with the temporary side effect that medical supplies were reaching more remote communities. I write “temporary” because it’s still unclear that any cargo drone company from the US, EU or Australia can... 11/
... operate sustainably in developing countries. That is, it’s unclear that their business models will return a profit in developing countries. One US cargo drone company, for example, was at first all about revolutionizing medical deliveries in developing countries ... 12/
They got $10M+ in VC funding and did drone demo flights in several developing countries. One UN agency paid them $250,000 for a 2 week demo. This company got a ton of media coverage and more cred as a result. Where are they now, you ask? Working in one of the richest ... 13/
... countries in the world. So where does all this leave us? It may be worth investing in local cargo drone companies in developing countries instead since they may stand a better chance at breaking even and sticking around. Maybe NGOs may be better placed to help ... 14/
... these local companies since their may be little financial returns on the investment. NGOs may also be more experienced in working with local stakeholders in developing countries. Perhaps NGOs could also help foreign cargo drone companies create appropriate ... 15/
... and local franchises that are truly locally owned and locally driven. How are international donors, humanitarian organizations and foreign companies going to localize aid if they keep exacerbating the digital divide by hiring Western for-profit companies instead of ... 16/
... incubating local businesses and investing in local trainings to give local entrepreneurs a chance to thrive, create long term jobs and offer cargo drone delivery services that are locally sustainable. I keep asking myself about all of this at WeRobotics.org ... 17/
... but I’m still looking for the answers. I’ve reviewed most studies and reports on this topic. But many of these seem speculative and not necessarily generalizable. So maybe I should consolidate all these thoughts into a blog post and ask if anyone out there has any answers 18/
