The Office of Science and Technology of the White House organized an interview on Tuesday to discuss the future of commercial drone usage and announced various initiatives to encourage their development.
Most of the measures announced are partnerships and grants for conducting further research, especially for safety reasons to avoid collisions in the air.
For example, the National Science Foundation will receive $35 million over five years to research how drones can be useful for utility inspections, disaster management, and agricultural monitoring. And New York State has received $5 million from the New York State Department of Transportation to develop a drone traffic management system between Syracuse and Rome.
In the meantime, Google's Project Wing will test drones in one of the FAA's six local delivery trials. The Ministry of the Interior also gave the green light and will add unmanned aircraft for research and rescue operations.
The conference takes place a week after Amazon's announcement that it will test the drone delivery program, Amazon Prime, in the United Kingdom.
In the US, experts say that the growth potential for drones is huge. Currently, the industry is expected to earn $82 billion over the next decade and create 100,000 new jobs, according to a 2015 report from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
Since the FAA first issued its rules for drones of a certain size in June, the market has grown for small drones. But future conferences could address drones heavier than 55 pounds, according to USA Today.
