SPECTORS Structure and Goals ^†

Abstract

SPECTORS—“Sensor products for enterprises creating technological opportunities in airborne remote sensing”—is a project on civil applications with drones lasting from Sept. 2016 to July 2020. The international cooperation project with more than 30 partners from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public sector as well as research institutions is aiming at economic development in the Dutch-German border region. It is financed by INTERREG-V-A Germany-Netherlands, a strong economic development instrument being supported by the “European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)”. The partners of SPECTORS are mainly located in the Euregio Rhine-Waal. In order to achieve the politically motivated economic development goals of the European Union, the entire project is completely tailored to support SMEs in product innovation and development. This is achieved through interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary cooperation between Dutch and German partners. The project partners Oost NL and RheWaTech are advising the SMEs on developing appropriate business models for their intended innovations. The Business Model Canvas together with business and technology readiness level measures are tools to plan and reflect business. The project internal consultants meet regularly with collaborating SMEs and their potential customers to force the business development process. The continuous involvement of business consultants being part of the consortium leads to an improved target orientation in the research & development project. SPECTORS covers a wide range of civil drone applications, such as environmental and nature conservation, agriculture, surveying, hyperspectral remote sensing, surveillance, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The extensive cooperation over the last years has resulted in a cross-border competence network, which already provides many companies and users in the region with uncomplicated and direct access to the diverse applications of drones in the civil sector.