Preparing for flying taxis: High Tech Campus Eindhoven launches first field lab for autonomous drones in EU

At a time when Urban Air Mobility is the next big advancement, High Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTCE) has initiated the rollout of a new generation of advanced autonomous aviation digital infrastructure. It is claimed to benefit the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) of cities in a secure, safe, and regulated way. Recently, HTCE appointed Serendipity to execute the technical coordination of its field lab. 

High Tech Campus Eindhoven claims to be the smartest km² in Europe with more than 220 companies, startups and institutes. According to HTCE, more than 12,000 researchers, developers and entrepreneurs are working on developing future technologies and products that will affect the lives of billions of people.

Part of Flying Forward 2020 consortium 

The field lab will be a part of the Flying Forward 2020 consortium (FF2020). It is a three-year collaborative innovation and research project, which was funded by the European Commission. After completing the launching site at HTCE, the infrastructure for UAM will be tested at four other field labs including the University of Oulu in Finland, Ospedale San Raffaele Milan in Italy, Tartu Science Park in Estonia, and the City of Zaragoza in Spain. 

The international FF2020 consortium consists of public and private organisations, universities, and international multi-disciplinary teams of experts – Digie, Nalantis, EUROUSC Italia, VERSES, Serendipity, and the University of Maastricht. This consortium is backed by numerous large institutions including Microsoft, LUMO Labs, Nokia, VDL, NXP, and the European Space Agency (ESA). 

“With the rise of drone use, flying taxis and autonomous last-mile delivery, we need to prepare ourselves for the future,” says Jan-Willem Neggers, HTCE Managing Director. “When we were approached by LUMO Labs and Serendipity to participate in this project, we saw the possibilities for us as a campus to realise our ambitions. Our innovative campus, with all the tech-savvy people working here, is the perfect location to develop, test and roll out this project.”

Eindhoven-based Serendipity uses digital transformation phases to help cities and ecosystems become sustainable, resilient and safer.

“Of course, we would like to know whose drone is flying – from where, to where, on what path and altitude – just like with planes, only closer to the ground,” Neggers says, “And for exactly this reason, we’d better make it safe, transparent, traceable and well-regulated.”

Sustainable UAM ecosystem 

Founded in 2020,  Serendipity helps ecosystems see the future and create resilient, livable, and sustainable cities. It helps cities, stadiums, and campuses realise their digital transformation strategy. “We are honoured and excited that we were able to build the UAM ecosystem with the best partners in the world to create the digital infrastructure of the future,” explains Jonas Onland, Managing Partner of Serendipity.

Andy Lürling, Founding Partner of LUMO Labs says, “Many of these technologies come from startups and scale-ups. The field labs will also be ideal test labs for some of our portfolio companies. We see Serendipity as the curator between startups and the multinationals.”