We are pleased to announce that Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, President: Satoshi Murabayashi, “MURC”) and Terra Drone Cooperation (Tokyo, President: Toru Tokushige, “Terra Drone”) have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to collaborate in utilization of drone in global health field. Both companies will develop and demonstrate new projects with drone technology leveraging our knowledge, specialty and network, which will contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the field of healthcare.
1. Background
The drone service market is expanding rapidly worldwide. According to the survey by MarketsandMarkets[1], it is estimated at USD 4.4 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 63.6 billion by 2025. It will continue to grow in the future in a variety of fields, including infrastructure inspection, surveying, logistics, agriculture, disaster control. In the field of healthcare, the drone technology is also expected to be used, especially in the cold chain management, which is a logistic method that keeps and transport medical commodities at recommended temperatures, in low- and middle-income countries. There are technical issues regarding the utilization of drones, however, such as a long-distance and multi-directional flight and complicated operation that requires a greater number of human resources.
Terra Drone is one of the biggest drone solution providers in the world, operating industrial drone services such as aerial shoot, surveying, inspection, data analysis and traffic management. The company is especially strong in the management of drone operation systems, which enables safe and secure transportation of goods as well as helps reduce resources required for flight control. This technology will further promote drone utilization in the healthcare field.
MURC established a Center on Global Health Architecture to tackle issues in global health with innovative technology in public health and health system, and as one of its initiatives has signed the MoU with Terra Drone. Terra Drone and MURC aim to start new projects through the development and spread of drone technology, especially in the cold chain revolution in Africa. We will also cooperate to disseminate drone technology and examples of its utilization aiming to achieve SDGs, to the public, private companies and academia.
[1] MarketsandMarkets™ Inc. (2019) “Market Report: Drone Service Market Application (Aerial Photography, Data Acquisition and Analytics), Industry (Infrastructure, Media & Entertainment, Agriculture), Type (Drone Platform Service, Drone MRO, Drone Training, Solution, and Region) – Global Forecast to 2025”
2. Outlines of the two organization
■ Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, Co., Ltd.
MURC is a think tank and consulting firm within Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). It has offices in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and drives a variety of projects including consultancy services for firms, policy research for national and local governments, management information services, human resource development, and economic research.
The Secretariat of this MoU is MURC’s Center on Global Health Architecture, an organization striving to solve global health issues.
Website： https://www.digitalsociety.murc.jp/globalhealth/architecture/index.html
Facebook： https://www.facebook.com/cgha.murc/
■ Terra Drone Corporation
Established in 2016, Terra Drone Corporation has quickly become one of the world’s largest industrial drone solution companies employing over 550 drone industry professionals. The company’s head office is located in Tokyo, Japan, and more than 25 branches are spread globally throughout Asia, Europe, Americas, Africa, and Oceania. Terra Drone provides innovative enterprise drone services for oil and gas, utilities, renewables, mining, construction, and GIS sectors, among others.
The company’s previous investments include Unifly, which specializes in unmanned traffic management (UTM); C-Astral, which develops high-endurance fixed-wing UAVs; RoNik Inspectioneering, which provides wireless inspection services for confined spaces; Ventus Geospatial, which has patented gas leak detection technology; and Inkonova, which has developed SLAM technology for underground mines. Going forward, we will continue to invest in technology companies with cutting-edge solutions for drones.
Website: https://www.terra-drone.net/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/terradronecorp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerraDroneHQ
