Urban drone service ecosystem design. Shaping public perception and saving the public sector £1bn.

5 City Regions £1bn Projected Public Sector Savings Alpha/Beta Phase

Summary

The Flying High Challenge was a collaborative engagement with cities, technologists, researchers, regulators, government, public services, and citizens to shape the future of urban drone use in the UK. This project explored use cases like medical delivery and emergency response across major UK cities, focusing on winning public support through transparent and beneficial service models. Economic analysis revealed that drone adoption in key public sector use cases could save the UK public sector £1.1 billion per year by 2035.

September – December 2020 Role: Senior Service Designer

Drones are often seen as a nuisance or a privacy threat. How can we design drone services that the public actually supports and that provide genuine benefit to cities? Forget flying taxis—how can drones revolutionise public services?

The Flying High Challenge was a collaborative engagement with cities, technologists, researchers, regulators, government, public services, and citizens to shape the future of urban drone use in the UK to meet local needs.

Part of the 'Flying High Challenge' by Nesta, this project explored use cases like medical delivery and emergency response across major UK cities. We focused on winning public support through transparent and beneficial service models.

The first phase comprised a nine-month research and engagement process, working with five city-regions across the UK:

Bradford

London

Preston

Southampton

The project was built around four key pillars:

Technology: Exploring the potential for drones to perform critical services like transporting urgent medical supplies or bridge inspection.

Cities and People: Placing people's needs at the center of shaping potential uses for drones.

Potential Impact: Advancing social, economic, transport, and environmental plans for cities.

Integration Challenges: Ensuring sustainable and safe integration within real-world city conditions.

The project received significant media attention, including features in Metro UK and Reset.org. The findings were published in the Nesta Flying High Phase 2 full report, helping shape the conversation around urban drone integration in the UK.

The challenge objectives included:

Shaping city plans for the future of drones.

Identifying and addressing complexities in technology, infrastructure, law, and safety.

Detailing technical and economic plans to unlock market opportunities.

The Flying High Challenge's economic analysis, conducted in partnership with PwC, revealed that the adoption of drones across five key public sector use cases—medical delivery, emergency response, infrastructure inspection, and traffic management—could save the UK public sector £1.1 billion per year by 2035. These savings are driven by increased operational efficiency, reduced response times for emergency services, and lower costs for infrastructure maintenance compared to traditional methods.

The Flying High Challenge laid the groundwork for the UK's Future Flight Challenge, a £300 million initiative to develop the next generation of electric and autonomous aircraft. The insights gathered from the five city-regions continue to inform the development of regulatory frameworks and public engagement strategies for urban air mobility.

Nesta / Livework

Livework team

September – December 2020

Nesta Project Flying High Prize Full Report