The Los Jerónimos Campus, home of the Universidad Católica de Murcia, was the setting for the Drone Summit, an innovative event that reflects our institution's commitment to training and technological innovation in the field of drones, exploring their role in both education and the professional world. The alliance between UCAM and DJI, the largest drone manufacturer in the world, thereby embodies the joint commitment to promote research and development in this field.
The event, organised by UCAM and DJI and promoted by the Fundación Integra Digital and Telefónica Cátedras, was inaugurated with the participation of María Dolores García, UCAM President, and Javier Martínez, General Director of Digital Transformation, who highlighted the importance of exploring the future impact of drone technology in the professional world. ‘We are living exciting times with great changes in society, so it is important for the university to be on the lookout for all the technological advances that are transforming our world,’ remarked the president. Javier Martínez stressed the importance of digitalisation in society, recalling that countries with greater technological development such as South Korea, Japan and Germany have the lowest unemployment rates, and related the alliance between UCAM and DJI as an opportunity to create employment in the Region of Murcia. 
This was the subject of the round table ‘Training and professional applications of drones’, with Pau Guardiola, UCAM Director of User Experience and Multimedia, Joaquín Polo, General Director of DJI Agriculture Spain, and Rafael Melendreras, Vice-Dean of the UCAM Degree in Telecommunication Technology Engineering. They explained the current applications of drones in fields as diverse as agriculture, security, mobility, sport, emergencies, the audiovisual sector and engineering, among others. A specific postgraduate programme was announced for the 2024/25 academic year organised in collaboration with the Murcian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development (IMIDA, Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Medioambiental), the first to use the drones the UCAM has purchased: the Master's Degree in Continuing Education in Digital Transformation in the Agricultural Sector. 

Presentation of the UCAM Drone Hub, a drone aerodrome on campus
The highlight of the event was the inauguration of the UCAM Drone Hub, a space dedicated to drones on the Los Jerónimos Campus that sets a milestone in our institution's commitment to technological innovation.

This hub will not only serve as a vertiport for drones, but also as a training centre where students will be able to carry out internships and obtain official licenses.
Rafael Melendreras noted that ‘on the one hand, basic drones have been acquired to learn the basics of piloting and, on the other, more specific drones for the training we will be providing. We have a drone equipped with multispectral sensors that will help engineering students inspect towers, bridges and any type of infrastructure or take a topographical survey and acquire information on the land surface relief, and another model more focused on the audiovisual sector, with which really creative content can be produced in the Faculty of Communication’. 
Melendreras informed the students present at the event of the great opportunity that this step taken by UCAM is opening up to them: ‘The idea is to get you interested in the use of this technology and to understand the business opportunities it offers. This way, via UCAM HiTech, specialised teaching will be connected with entrepreneurship, helping many of our students launch a business idea in the field of drones’.