Cities in Europe are thinking about innovative ways to promote efficient mobility for their citizens. One idea is to use low-level flying vehicles – could they become part of our everyday landscape in the not so-far-away future? A European initiative called ‘Urban Air Mobility’ is part of the Marketplace of the European Innovation Partnership in Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) action cluster of Sustainable Urban Mobility. The Marketplace brings together cities and regions (including Governmental Authorities) with companies, academia and other stakeholders to showcase innovative urban mobility solutions and support their replication at scale in key market segments.
In this context, we at EUROCONTROL are supporting a business demonstration on the use of U-space (drones) in ‘smart cities’. The development of U-space service solutions involving both stakeholders and public organisations to address unmet mobility user needs, for example in public, shared transport and in mobility-as-a-service. U-space services have the potential to create fast evolving investment opportunities for European companies.