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More efficient and safer – how drones are changing the workplace
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Jonathan Downey, founder and CEO of Airware, has a passion for robotics and began working with drones while studying electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After graduation, he joined Boeing to work on the development and flight testing of the A160T Hummingbird, a fully-autonomous 6,500-pound helicopter, which broke the world record for longest endurance helicopter flight.
Jonathan went on to found Airware in 2011 due to both personal and professional frustrations with the status of drone technology at the time. He found that the drone autopilots on the market were too costly and “black box” -- too inflexible to be customized for a variety of practical commercial drone applications. He set out to solve that by building the Aerial Information Platform, an operating system for commercial drones that combines hardware, software, and cloud services to let enterprises safely operate drones at scale, comply with regulatory and insurance requirements, and rapidly develop industry-specific drone solutions. That platform has helped Airware become the leading provider of commercial drone solutions to the Fortune 500, including customers such as GE and State Farm.
Jonathan and his team were active participants in the creation of the FAA’s commercial drone regulations, providing counsel and input from an industry perspective. They have also partnered with NASA to develop air traffic management system that will enable safe and efficient low-altitude UAS operations. Jonathan recently tapped John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco, as an investor and board member.
Jonathan has been recognized among MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 of 2016, San Francisco Business Times’s 2017 40 Under 40, as well as USA Today’s 2015 Small Business Innovator of the Year.
In addition, Jonathan is the General Partner for the Commercial Drone Fund, which he established to support businesses that are developing technologies and services that are critical to scaling the use of commercial drones across a variety of applications. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the largest unmanned systems organization in the world.
In his free time, Jonathan enjoys flying manned aircraft. He is a commercial multi-engine-rated pilot with experience flying small singles up through twin turboprops and is currently pursuing his helicopter pilot license.
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