The document discusses social innovation, specifically regarding drone technology. It notes that drones have promising economic and social applications, and their use could create significant economic opportunities. However, several challenges around regulation, safety, privacy, and public acceptance must be overcome to realize the benefits of drone technology. Social innovation requires collaboration between government, academia, the private sector, and communities. Government can play various roles in supporting social innovation from regulating to enabling to endorsing.

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Social innovation: The case of drone technology (DRAFT)
Presented by Louis Lévesque
Deputy Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
May 7, 2015
Annex C
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 Social Innovation: engaging Canadians to stimulate innovation and create positive
social outcomes
 Definition: “Drones”
 Drones: economic and social applications
 Drones: New technology with promising applications
 Drones: Potential significant economic opportunities….
 Drones: An economic opportunity to also access and contribute to development of
innovation and peripheral technologies
 Canadian technology suppliers are paving the way…
 Economic and social benefits from drones will depend on our capacity to overcome
several challenges
 Social innovation provides a cross-functional platform
 Spectrum of potential government/institutional action
 Moving forward with social innovation: Adding to the public sector’s existing toolbox to
deal with urban congestion
Outline

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Social innovation: engaging Canadians to stimulate
innovation and create positive social outcomes
 Today’s challenges are getting
more complex and are increasingly
requiring multi-stakeholder
collaboration and partnerships
 Governments are facing budgetary
constraints
 Citizens’ expectations and ability to
engage on issues continues to
increase
 Increasing pace of technological
innovation creates new
opportunities and challenges.
Definition
Social innovation is about finding
more effective ways of engaging
Canadians, delivering
community services and
strengthening communities as a
whole through research. It can
take the form of a product,
process or program that creates
positive social outcomes for
communities.
Source: Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=906839

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Definition
 “Drone”:
an aircraft without an on-board pilot, or unmanned aircraft. In effect, the term
“drone” is a catch-all term that refers to any vehicle that can operate on
surfaces or in the air without a person on board to control it; and that can
vary in size, shape, form, speed, and a whole host of
other attributes.
Source: Office of Privacy Commissioner of Canada, “Drones in Canada: Will the proliferation of domestic drone
use in Canada raise new concerns for privacy?”, March 2013.

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Drones: economic and social applications

6. Drones: New technology with promising applications
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 Variety of types
• Hobby aircraft;
• Remotely piloted aircraft; and,
• Fully autonomous drones.
 Variety of applications – security, economic and societal :
• Military, safety and security
• Defense and military applications; Disaster management (e.g., response and
recovery); Search and rescue; Safety (e.g., pipeline monitoring
• Economic/Social applications
• Transport (e.g., freight and infrastructure inspection);
• Health care (e.g., emergency services);
• Environment (e.g., weather monitoring, tailings monitoring); Resource exploration
(e.g., geophysical surveys); Agriculture and forestry(e.g., crop monitoring);
• Telecommunications;

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Drones: Potential significant economic opportunities….
 Emerging technologies with potential high economic benefits….
• Global unmanned aircraft system (UAS) market is expected to almost double over
the next 10 years to over USD $91 billion, largely driven by expanding civilian
use (Teal Group) .
• According to their 2014 market study, the current world wide spending on drones is
$6.5 billion per year and is estimated to nearly double to $11.5 billion over the next ten
years.
• Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International forecasts that drones and the
companies that support them could generate $13.7 billion worth of economic activity
in the U.S. and create 70,000 new jobs, by 2016.
 Raising needs for new requirements – e.g. insurance
• Zurich Canada launched a new drone insurance product for a range of industries to
take advance of the risk mitigation and cost savings opportunities available through
the use of UAS or “drones”, in April 2015.
 Poised to transform transportation sector and lead to new comparative
advantage – e.g., addressing last-mile challenges, energy efficiency,
environmental footprint and congestion

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Drones: An economic opportunity to also access and contribute
to development of innovation and peripheral technologies
 Drones are a technology platform. The scope of their applications
could drive innovation through smart partnerships between drone
makers and technology giants, e.g.,
• Sense-and-avoid software which could be also be used at rail crossings;
• New battery technologies;
• Motion planning software which could also be used in transportation logistics; and,
• Camera and sensor technologies for traffic monitoring.
 Other countries are looking to capture their share of the global market
and the competition is intensifying with countries such as China,
Russia, Australia and Brazil seeking commercial and military applications
and supporting research and development efforts, e.g.,
• As of early 2014, there were an estimated 490 unmanned air vehicle manufacturers
based in about 60 countries.

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Canadian technology suppliers are paving the way…
 Early movers are looking to seize their share of growing market
opportunities:
• Cenovus Energy Inc. is using drones for mapping its projects site
• Other energy companies are exploring using drones to patrol pipelines,
assess tailings ponds and for various geophysical surveys.
• In the U.S., drones from Ontario-based Aeryon Labs Inc. are used for flare-
stack inspections at refineries.
• Vancouver-based AerialX Drone Solutions Inc. is using the technology to
monitor a multitude of crop-health statistics, including water and
pesticide effectiveness.
• Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology Inc. is adapting its military UAV
cargo technologies for potential use in Canada’s Arctic.

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Economic and social benefits from drones will depend on our
capacity to overcome several challenges
 Legislative and regulatory frameworks
• Some countries have adopted legislation for simple operations by light drones (e.g.
Canada and Australia) and others have put in place case-by-case authorization
process (e.g. United States).
 Public safety
• Considerations such as loss of communication, flight at extreme altitudes, and
capacity to stay airborne are examples of challenges that need to be addressed.
 Privacy
• Strong argument that UAVs may be a surveillance game-changer in three general
areas: their attributes, payload technologies, and the manner in which they collect
personal information.
 Public acceptance
• Public knowledge and acceptance are crucial, as lack of understanding can
undermine the technology deployment.
• Transport Canada has launched the safety awareness campaign for drones. The first phase
of the campaign provides the public with new safety guidelines and an easy to follow
infographic that clarifies when to apply for Transport Canada permission to fly their drones.

11. Social innovation provides a cross-functional platform
Social Innovation
 Social innovation requires a
variety of actors working in
concert
• Government
• Academia
• Private sector
• Non-profit sector
• Communities
• Institutions
• Public
 Each has a role to play in
enabling and supporting
social innovation

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Spectrum of potential government/institutional action
 Government has
traditionally exercised a
regulatory role
 Jurisdictions are
increasingly considering
other potential
dimensions, such as that
of a:
 Catalyst
 Knowledge broker
 Facilitator
 Convener
Regulate PartnerEnable Endorse

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Moving forward with social innovation: Adding to the public
sector’s existing toolbox to deal with urban congestion
Regulate PartnerEnable Endorse

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Proposed discussion questions
 What should be the role of government/academic/civil society in
supporting social innovation?
 What are the impacts of or on informal institutions when regulative
or coercive power is used to effect social innovation?
 How can all social actors work together to support social
innovation?
 What alternative institutional arrangements are emerging in
response to the social problems, such as the sharing economy,
user networks and community‐based and cooperative models?

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Annex

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Uber: opportunities…
 Uber is an American international company headquartered in San
Francisco, California. It develops, markets and operates the mobile-
app-based transportation network also called Uber.
 The Uber app allows consumers to submit a trip request, which is
routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers.
 Drivers that use Uber either own the cars themselves or operate as a
part of a taxi or limousine service and simply use the app for additional
income during breaks in their schedules.
 Passengers benefit from the simplicity involved in the app’s use.

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 One of Uber’s most impressive features is its ability to grow:
• In mid-2013, Uber operated in 36 cities
• Currently its service is available in 57 countries and more than 280
cities worldwide.
 Uber reduces consumers’ incentives to purchase automobiles, contributing
to cost reduction for transportation and reducing environmental footprint.

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but there are challenges as well…
 Legislative and regulatory frameworks
• Uber is competing with taxi drivers by entering their market without following
regulations or fare schedules
 Public safety
• Uber drivers are consulting Uber’s app while operating the vehicle.
 Privacy
• Uber’s use of rider data has also sparked concern.
 Discrimination
• Discrimination seems to be a risk of Uber’s rider-feedback model, which requires
drivers to maintain a minimum score or be kicked off the service.
• Passengers may give bad reviews to racial-minority drivers, whether out of implicit or
explicit bias. Drivers in turn may be less likely to pick up riders if they learn that they
are racial minorities.