Nevada Leaders Gamble on Drones for Economic Boost
By: Michael Lopardi (Action News 13) May 2014
Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) — A new industry could soon dominate Nevada’s economy as state leaders take a gamble on drones.
“It’s predicted to be an $89 billion market,” said Greg Friesmuth.
Friesmuth is a student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who helped build a drone.
“There’s never a dull moment, even when you’re testing the thing,” said Friesmuth.
He said drones, also called “unmanned aircraft systems” or UAS, are the future. Friesmuth is banking his career on it, starting his own company called Skyworks.
“As technology progresses, almost everyone will have one of these for some reason,” Friesmuth said.
Drones come in all different shapes and sizes and can do a variety of tasks like deliver packages, coordinator emergency responders or check for radiation in nuclear power plants. Some can do jobs more efficiently than people and keep us out of harm’s way.
“We’re already, I think in my mind, well advanced beyond all other states in terms of being able to lead the way,” said Thomas Wilczek, aerospace and defense specialist with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
More than 40 companies have already expressed interest doing business in the Silver State, taking advantage of tax incentives and open skies, Wilczek said.
“The unmanned systems industry is somewhat our birth right,” Wilczek said. “We’ve developed for 30 years.”
Move over slot machines, the state is hoping to hit the jackpot on drones and make the industry one of the largest in the state’s economy.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently selected the entire state as one of six testing places for drones. Pilots who obtain approval can practice flying at certain locations like the Boulder City Airport.
Wilczek said the industry could bring thousands of jobs in from companies who want to fly systems, manufacture parts and build drones. One company, Drone America, is already in business in Reno.
“They are going to be a very big deal in the next five years,” said Rama Venkat, dean of the UNLV College of Engineering.
The school is launching a drone minor in the fall. Venkat said the state will need a skilled workforce to attract companies.
“You can fly UAVs and have them do anything you want them to do,” said Venkat.
Some are doing just that. Drones are already in use at military bases around the region and at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas.
For us, this is a toolbox to do more research,” said Lynn Fenstermaker, associate research professor.
The organization is using a device that looks like a helicopter to take pictures from the air. It’s part of their research on climate change.
“We can get the data we want when we need it,” Fenstermake said.
DRI is also partnering with NASA in hopes of using drones to study wildfires. Case in point, had drones been used during the Carpenter One fire last summer, they may have predicted the soil erosion. That may have given us a better warning about future flooding in the northwest part of the Las Vegas valley that followed.
“We fully expect and are already seeing companies looking to relocate into Nevada as well as new company start ups,” Fenstermaker said.
Friesmuth’s company already employs about a half dozen people.
“We already have lots of interest from funders or investment groups,” Friesmuth said.
Not everyone is excited about the drone business. Critics are expressing big concerns about privacy and what happens to information that’s collected by drones.
