Fresh coffee, delicious pastries and two top-class speakers: this is how the first edition of ‘Urban Air Mornings’ kicked off on 15 April 2025 at the Nord Coast Coffee Roastery Hamburg. Under the motto ‘Coffee & Content’, everything revolved around an important topic for the drone economy: certification and approval of drones.
Jacques Kruse Brandao, Global Head of Advocacy at TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH (TÜVIT), kicked things off. He gave a comprehensive overview of current and upcoming requirements in the area of cybersecurity and regulatory frameworks. Since 2019, EASA has been regulating how drones are allowed to fly in Europe - with different safety standards applying depending on the use case.
Until now, however, there have been no clear guidelines on cybersecurity - this is now changing: With the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the EU adopted uniform minimum requirements for all networked products in autumn 2024. Companies have until October 2027 to retrofit their systems accordingly - from November, things will get serious: only products with ‘security by design’ will be allowed on the market.
And what does this mean in global competition? Jacques Kruse Brandao was able to reassure us: ‘Hackers don't care about national borders.’ International labels may have different names, but the challenges are the same everywhere - and so are the security requirements.
In the second keynote, Andreas Gherman, aviation expert and consultant at Beagle Systems, shed light on what distinguishes the drone industry from traditional aviation. ‘To achieve safety, you have to know, manage and mitigate risks,’ said Gherman. Since the founding of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 1944, aviation has been heavily regulated - with known risks. With the advent of drones, a new, unknown variable was added, to which the rules of manned aviation could not simply be applied.
New technologies require new assessment approaches. The solution: evaluate use cases individually and check their risk. This is exactly what the EU drone regulation does with its three operating categories: Open, Specific and Certified - depending on the type of flight and risk. The ‘Certified’ category is particularly exciting: it applies to high-risk applications such as air taxis and the transport of hazardous goods - and requires similarly high standards as manned aviation. However, this category is still under development and is not (yet) the immediate target for the industry as a whole.
The conclusion of the two speakers: the drone industry is on the right track - safety is complex, but essential. Or as Kruse Brandao summarised it: ‘Who voluntarily goes to the TÜV? But it's still necessary.’
After the presentations, there was plenty of time for discussions, questions and dialogue over coffee and pastries. The start of the Urban Air Mornings was therefore a complete success - with lots of input, new perspectives and a strong community spirit.
Save the date: The next edition will take place on 13 May 2025. The topic then will be the use of drones in facility management - with Stefan Gloger, CEO of NEO Urban Services.