Focus on the future of air mobility: UAM initiative brings together 280 experts

A total of 280 experts from industry, research, politics, and authorities met at the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) weekend in Ingolstadt at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. The focus was on current developments, innovative applications, and prospects for urban air mobility. UAM ("Urban Air Mobility") refers to concepts for the use of aircraft in urban areas.

High level of interest: 280 participants from academia, industry and public authorities discussed Urban Air Mobility (Photo: THI).

A promising future field: the UAM initiative welcomes twelve new network partners (Photo: THI).

The network meeting of the UAM Initiative Ingolstadt kicked off the event with over 100 participants. The further growth of the network also became clear: twelve new partners introduced themselves in short pitch sessions and contributed additional expertise - from 3D geodata models to software solutions. The network is thus gaining further momentum and thematic breadth. Specialist presentations from science, business, and politics highlighted technological advances, regulatory framework conditions, and questions of social acceptance.

Key challenges - including the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into existing systems, admission procedures, and the scaling of specific applications - were explored in depth in presentations and a panel discussion. Representatives from the Federal Ministry and research confirmed Ingolstadt's strategic focus on creating test environments and establishing the region as a vertiport location in the future.

The Technology Transfer Center Unmanned Flight Systems played a central role: In an open lab, it provided insights into current THI research projects. The programme was complemented by an exhibition with solutions from industry and science.

On the following day, Ingolstadt became a meeting point for around 180 specialists from authorities and organisations with security tasks. The symposium "Drones in Civil Protection", organised by the Bavarian Red Cross in cooperation with the UAM initiative and THI, focused on the possible applications of drone technologies. The event is one of the largest specialised events of its kind in Germany for civil and official applications and offers insights into current developments in regulation, data protection, and operational use.

The UAM weekend emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation for the further development of urban air mobility. With research, technology transfer, and its active role in the network, THI is positioning itself as an important player in this future field.

Since 2018, the Ingolstadt UAM initiative has been connecting over 100 partners from various fields in order to drive forward the development and implementation of urban air mobility solutions. The aim is to accelerate innovation, pool knowledge, and develop viable concepts for the mobility of the future.

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