CAELUS was praised by Scottish Transport Award judges at the event where Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth MSP and host Grant Stott welcomed 450 industry professionals to celebrate the people and organisations that make a real difference to transport across Scotland.
CAELUS (Care & Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland), which brings together 16 partners including NATS, AGS Airports, Skyports, NHS Scotland, The Drone Office, secured £10.1 million funding from the Future Flight Challenge at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Fiona Smith, AGS Airports Group Head of Aerodrome Strategy and CAELUS Project Director, said: “We were delighted when we heard we had been shortlisted in the Scottish Transport Awards earlier this year so to win is a fantastic achievement.
“The CAELUS project is set to revolutionise the way in which healthcare services are delivered in Scotland. A drones network can ensure critical medical supplies can be delivered more efficiently, it can reduce waiting times for test results and, more importantly, it can provide equity of care between urban and remote rural communities.
“This award is testament to the hard work by all the partners involved in this consortium and I thank them all as we continue onto the next phase of work.”
Anne-Lise Scaillierez, The Drone Office, Partner, said: “We’re thrilled to be leading the general public perception and stakeholders’ engagement work of Project CAELUS, which will deliver the first national drone network to transport essential medical supplies throughout Scotland – an example of how drones can support healthcare services and improve patient outcome”.
The CAELUS consortium comprises:
AGS Airports Limited NHS Scotland
NATS University of Strathclyde
Connected Places Catapult ANRA Technologies UK
Atkins Arup
Cellnex UK Commonplace Digital
DGP Intelsius Dronamics
Plane Finder Skyports
The Drone Office Trax International
About THE DRONE OFFICE
THE DRONE OFFICE is a consultancy and service company. We offer clients independent, solution-agnostic expertise. We advocate safe and innovative roadmaps. Drones are part of digital transformation. So beyond safety, our objective is to help clients transform disruption into a competitive advantage and value creation. Equally important, we share with clients a vision of technology with a sense of purpose, that truly adds value for everyone. Our services cover building and updating our client’s inhouse expertise and foundation knowledge; assessing the state-of-the-art in their industry; pilot-project design and planning; support to the selection of technologies, suppliers, and partners; project management; scaling-up from pilot-project to routine operations.
About the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund aims to bring together the UK’s world leading research with business to meet the major industrial and societal challenges of our time. The fund was created to provide funding and support to UK businesses and researchers, part of the government’s £4.7 billion increase in research and development over the next 4 years. It was designed to ensure that research and innovation takes centre stage in the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. It is run by UK Research and Innovation.
UKRI
UKRI works with the government to invest over £7 billion a year in research and innovation by partnering with academia and industry to make the impossible, possible. Through the UK’s nine leading academic and industrial funding councils, it creates knowledge with impact. For more information visit www.ukri.org.