Low Altitude Economy, "Lingang Style"

Shanghai-Lingang, 2024/12/20 -- How much economic benefit can each airspace user claim for themselves? Which business case is less likely to scale to break-even? Isn't economic growth a "left pocket, right pocket game"?

As the only foreigner at the event, I was curious about the level of openness of the discussion (and was not disappointed), because the above is just a selection of questions that I was able to raise yesterday as part of the Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association (SORSA) in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone Lingang Special Area.

Representatives of a helicopter company, parcel logistics service provider, patent attorney, representative of the local government, manufacturer of chips for electric motors, start-up founders, students, H2 fuel manufacturers: a selection of participants.

What they all have in common: a genuine interest in shaping the low altitude economy together. Citizens who demanded answers from politicians, even though the latter may not yet have fully grasped the issue, but are directly and urgently calling for specialist knowledge and expertise in order to bring well-founded approaches into legislation as quickly as possible.

As much as I was excited about the dynamics here, I was just as surprised by the lack of knowledge about lighthouse projects in Europe, and this despite the fact that EASA and CAAC just this week completed the second package of cooperation in the field of UAM (2015-2024 in total).

I assume, we will see many interesting use cases and real-world tests, many of which will certainly "disappear silently", but what "remains" will enrich application scenarios in the low altitude economy :)

I am looking forward to further developments in this domain and of course will continue to keep an eye on developments in Europe/Germany...

Interested persons may find some "food-for-thought" in my presentation.