Speakers: Franco Accordino, European Commissions & Monika Lanzenberger, European Commission

Moderator: George Metakides, Digital Enlightenment Forum

Drones are rapidly evolving from niche flying devices into autonomous, AI-powered components of a broader digital infrastructure connecting airspace, data, networks, cloud-edge computing and intelligent systems. This lecture explores the emerging “drone stack”, from chips, physical platforms and connectivity to onboard AI, distributed intelligence, swarms and autonomous control systems. We will discuss how drones are transforming sectors such as disaster response, environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, logistics and mobility, while also raising profound societal and ethical questions. We want to explore both, the opportunities and risks associated with this transformation, including sustainability benefits, new public services and industrial innovation, but also challenges related to surveillance, privacy, weaponisation, labour disruption and democratic governance. The lecture will outline the industrial and geopolitical dimension of drones, including market trends, strategic technologies and Europe’s position in the global ecosystem. Finally, we will also analyse the evolving EU regulatory framework, including the U-space architecture and the European Action Plan on Drone and Counter-Drone Security, together with their interactions with AI, cybersecurity, data and platform regulation.

Participate via Zoom (Password: 0dzqxqiy).
The talk will also be live-streamed and recorded on the DIGHUM YouTube Channel.