Memorandum of Understanding for Utilization of Drone in Global Health Field

Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, President: Satoshi Murabayashi, “MURC”) and Terra Drone Cooperation (Tokyo, President: Toru Tokushige, “Terra Drone”) have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to collaborate in utilization of drone in global health field. Both companies will develop and demonstrate new projects with drone technology leveraging our knowledge, specialty and network, which will contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the field of healthcare.

Background
The drone service market is expanding rapidly worldwide. According to the survey by MarketsandMarkets[1], it is estimated at USD 4.4 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 63.6 billion by 2025. It will continue to grow in the future in a variety of fields, including infrastructure inspection, surveying, logistics, agriculture, disaster control. In the field of healthcare, the drone technology is also expected to be used, especially in the cold chain management, which is a logistic method that keeps and transport medical commodities at recommended temperatures, in low- and middle-income countries. There are technical issues regarding the utilization of drones, however, such as a long-distance and multi-directional flight and complicated operation that requires a greater number of human resources.

Terra Drone is one of the biggest drone solution providers in the world, operating industrial drone services such as aerial shoot, surveying, inspection, data analysis and traffic management. The company is especially strong in the management of drone operation systems, which enables safe and secure transportation of goods as well as helps reduce resources required for flight control. This technology will further promote drone utilization in the healthcare field.

MURC established a Center on Global Health Architecture to tackle issues in global health with innovative technology in public health and health system, and as one of its initiatives has signed the MoU with Terra Drone. Terra Drone and MURC aim to start new projects through the development and spread of drone technology, especially in the cold chain revolution in Africa. We will also cooperate to disseminate drone technology and examples of its utilization aiming to achieve SDGs, to the public, private companies and academia.