High Tech Campus Eindhoven launches first field lab for autonomous drones in the European Union

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands, Dec. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- High Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTCE) initiates the rollout of a new generation of advanced autonomous aviation digital infrastructure. This will benefit the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) of cities in a safe, secure and regulated way. HTCE  has appointed the SERENDIPITY B.V. to execute the technical coordination of its field lab.

"With the rise of drone use, flying taxis and autonomous last-mile delivery, we need to prepare ourselves for the future," says Jan-Willem Neggers, HTCE Managing Director.

The field lab will be part of the Flying Forward 2020 consortium (FF2020) and ecosystem. FF2020 is a three-year collaborative innovation and research project recently funded by the European Commission. After completing the launching site at HTCE, the UAM infrastructure will be tested at four other field labs across the EU, namely the University of Oulu in Finland, Tartu Science Park in Estonia, Ospedale San Raffaele Milan in Italy and the City of Zaragoza in Spain.

Neggers continues: "When we were approached by LUMO Labs and Serendipity to participate in this project, we saw the possibilities for us as a campus to realize our ambitions. Our innovative campus, with all the tech-savvy people working here, is the perfect location to develop, test and roll out this project."

"We are honored and excited that we were able to build the UAM ecosystem with the best partners in the world to create the digital infrastructure of the future," explains Jonas Onland, Managing Partner of Serendipity.

The international FF2020 consortium consists of public and private organizations,  universities, and international multi-disciplinary teams of experts, such as Digie, EUROUSC Italia, Nalantis, Serendipity, University of Maastricht and VERSES. FF2020 is supported by several large institutions including the European Space Agency (ESA),, NXP, VDL, Microsoft and Nokia and LUMO labs.

Andy Lürling, Founding Partner of LUMO Labs: "Many of these technologies come from start-ups & scale-ups. The field labs will also be ideal test labs for some of our portfolio companies. We see Serendipity as the curator between start-ups and the multinationals."

Serendipity helps cities and ecosystems to become sustainable, resilient, and safe through digital transformation phases of the cities.   

"Of course, we would like to know whose drone is flying – from where, to where, on what path and altitude – just like with planes, only closer to the ground," Neggers says, "And for exactly this reason, we'd better make it safe, transparent, traceable and well-regulated. I have worked with Jonas of Serendipity over the last year as we prepared for the call. He is the right person to guide us in this new era."

Contact Information:

Inna Dikoun, Project Coordinator Serendipity
[email protected]

About Serendipity

Serendipity, founded in 2020, is based in Eindhoven. Serendipity helps ecosystems see the future and create sustainable, resilient and livable cities. Through innovation, technology and progress management (a balanced approach between advisory, program and project management), Serendipity helps cities, campuses and stadiums realize their digital transformation strategy. Serendipity creates a global network of sustainable and resilient cities in Europe and the world.

It's an agile network organization leveraging global minds and makers (people and organizations) who are game-changers in their respective fields. Serendipity is able to move fast on new developments (social and technology) with a focus on implementation and impact.

About High Tech Campus Eindhoven

High Tech Campus Eindhoven is the smartest km² in Europe with more than 220 companies, startups and institutes. More than 12,000 researchers, developers and entrepreneurs are working on developing future technologies and products that will affect the lives of billions of people. The ecosystem of open innovation helps companies based at HTCE accelerate innovation by offering easy access to high tech facilities and international networks. www.hightechcampus.com

About LUMO Labs

LUMO Labs creates opportunities for impact-driven software and smart hardware startups. The current LUMO Fund II is a €20M impact-driven multi-stage capital fund (pre-seed up to and including Series A). It includes a two-year venture builder program to support its portfolio companies in gaining financial success as well as social traction and impact.

LUMO Labs funds startups that align with at least one of the three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Sustainable Cities & Communities, Good Health & Well-Being and Quality Education. Its investment focus includes Artificial Intelligence/Data, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Robotics and Drones and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality.

LUMO Labs advocates self-determination and traceable ownership of data, and transparency and traceability of technologies. 

LUMO Labs – founded in 2016 by Andy Lürling and Sven Bakkes – is based at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands and has a strategic outpost at Phase Two in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, visit lumolabs.io.

SOURCE SERENDIPITY B.V