Drones are becoming more pervasive in today’s society. From search and rescue operations to land surveying and outdoor recreational use, drones are an increasing factor in our everyday lives.
But travel back in time more than 25 years and the technology was still in its infancy. Tinkered on by a handful of hobbyists, drones were constructed in basements and garages as inventors found new ways to develop this concept.
Such was the case with Zenon Dragan, who enjoyed working on remote control airplanes. Looking for a fun thing to do, Dragan created a remote-control flying saucer with a helium balloon and fan copter. This idea eventually became the world’s first quadcopter – a small helicopter with four rotors. Eventually, he added a camera and found a way to stabilize the image despite the drone’s maneuverability.
Dragan’s legacy can be found today in Draganfly Inc., a Saskatoon-based company that has become a world leader in the commercial drone industry by creating enterprise drone solutions, contract engineering services, and custom software.
The company, which employs approximately 50 staff, sells drones around the world in a variety of industries. It became a public company in 2021 and is poised for significant growth this year.
Cameron Chell, a friend and business colleague of the original founder, and Draganfly President and CEO, said Dragan’s original invention was popular for taking pictures and moviemaking, but its commercial appeal became apparent when it captured the attention of the RCMP.
“The first real use was by the RCMP who used it to take aerial photos for accident reconstruction,” explained Chell. “Drones were used to take pictures of skid marks which could be measured very easily. They could take a picture of an accident scene and you could see where parts flew off, where the tires bounced to, and other information. The company started building software that would allow those measurements to be done automatically. Normally you would have to close a highway for half a day and collect all the evidence. Now they could collect it all in five minutes.”
Over the years, the company continued to develop new technologies and industry continued finding new uses for these devices. One of the most notable events in the company’s history was when it used a drone to save someone’s life.
“Someone went missing in a car accident in a snowstorm and the RCMP used their Draganfly drone to locate the missing person. They had a drone on location in about 20 minutes and within about another 20 minutes they had a thermal image of someone who was unconscious about a kilometre from the car. The person had hypothermia and they immediately sent for a STARS Air Ambulance and it saved the person’s life. This is the first time that a life was saved by a drone and it received huge media attention. Today that drone sits on permanent display at the Smithsonian.”
Before long, police and sheriff departments across North America were placing orders for drones. Now they are commonplace in search and rescue operations and are used as first responders. Drones are often first on an accident scene, providing critical information to paramedics enroute to prepare for the situation.
Although public safety has been the bread-and-butter of Draganfly, it has expanded into other sectors as well. Agricultural producers use drones for thermal imaging in crops to view their health and to determine when and where to apply fertilizers or pesticides. Crop adjustors use them to map hail damage in farmers’ fields. They are also increasingly being used to provide support to wildfire services, including the extensive wildfires in British Columbia last year, as well as playing a more prominent role in military conflicts where it is utilized for, amongst other things, getting medicine to civilians in conflicts such as the Ukraine war.
Along the way, the company has picked up numerous awards and accolades. It received Popular Science’s Best of What’s New Award in 2008; it was featured in the 2013 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on The Future of Drones in America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations; and in 2014 it received the Ernest C. Manning Award, Canada’s most prestigious innovation award. Draganfly also received accolades in three different categories at last year’s The Droning Awards, namely Best Enterprise Drone, Best Search and Rescue Drone, and Best Delivery Drone.
According to Chell, the talented engineers and staff in Saskatchewan play a large role in the success of the company.
“We recently had a U.S. investment banker visit us. He told us that the biggest difference between Draganfly and other companies is that all of Draganfly’s people are career drone people. They have decades of experience and that sets the company apart.”
As it turns out, Saskatchewan is an ideal location to foster this type of company. Chell said there is outstanding talent from the nearby University of Saskatchewan and many staff enjoy the local lifestyle and don’t wish to leave – creating a long-term, stable workforce. Mix that with a relatively low cost manufacturing base, manageable tax load, and affordable cost of living, and Saskatchewan becomes a highly desirable place to do business and continue developing Draganfly’s technology.
Another aspect to the company’s success is that is based in Canada and can take advantage of existing U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on free trade, which provides access to the company’s largest markets in the U.S. As drones continue to develop an increasing role in armed conflicts, Canadian vendors have favored status with the American military that other countries do not have access to.
Zenon Dragan served as the CEO for many years, with Chell becoming part of the company a few years ago. Chell led a small group of private investors to purchase Draganfly and a new door of opportunity opened when both Canada and the U.S. began revising its regulations for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
Until the last few years, drones were only approved for VLOS flights, which are operated within the pilot’s line of sight. BVLOS flights are flown beyond the visual range, which enables drones to travel far greater distances. This has significant implications, as drones will be able to replace manned aircraft and satellites for data collection, and prevent humans from being placed in dangerous situations, such as a wildlife or chemical leak.
With these new markets opening, Chell said that Draganfly wanted to take advantage of these new opportunities, but would have to scale up in order to do so. That led the company to issue an initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange which raised $20 million.
“We’ve been able to use that money to advance our product and build out our manufacturing facility in different areas,” said Chell. “We have a small manufacturing facility in Burnaby and we have our head office in Saskatoon. We’ve steadily increased our revenue over time, and we are positioning ourselves for a breakout year.”
The company opened a new manufacturing and production facility in Saskatoon in the fall of 2023 which will help Draganfly achieve its commitment to meet the increasing market demand for its products and solutions. The facility will help advance manufacturing capacities, streamline assembly process, deepen research and development capabilities, and optimize integration procedures.
Draganfly’s innovative products and vision is helping to take Saskatchewan’s technology sector to new heights.
“We’re very grateful to be in Saskatchewan,” said Chell. “I think that being in Canada, and in particular Saskatchewan, gives us a big advantage.”
Saskatchewan offers a suite of business incentives and tax credits that foster a competitive and resilient business environment, as can be seen with the success of companies like Draganfly. With these supports in place, we are sure to see many similar success stories in the future.
