Minnesota is best known to outsiders for its dairy farms and river and lake canoeing. But to its natives, the North Star state has always been something of a   technology leader, too.  Decades ago, tech innovators in northwestern Minnesota gave birth to the American snowmobile industry.  And now, many years later, a new generation of entrepreneurs is supporting another cutting-edge innovation:  drones.

The Virginia-based Mercatus Center, which evaluates all 50 US states based

on their readiness to promote the drone industry, ranks Minnesota near the very top of the list at #5.  The state began planning to develop its industry much earlier than most other states – way back in 2014, in fact.  That year, government officials and industry leaders convened an important organizational meeting in Thief River Falls, the very site where the snowmobile industry took hold.  Government authorities including then-Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Collin Peterson turned out, as did dozens of interested private sector entities, and the nucleus of the state’s drone industry was born.

That area of Minnesota turned out to be fortuitous for other reasons.  Minnesota’s western neighbor, located less than 50 miles away, was also in the process if building its own drone i industry – which now ranks #2 on the Mercatus list.  The two states began collaborating, first informally, and then in earnest, creating a drone synergy that has propelled both states forward.

Minnesota and North Dakota share many of the demographic and topographical characteristics that favor the development and testing of drones – large flat prairie lands and dispersed rural populations.  North Dakota has clear advantages, including a friendly US Air Force base and an early designation by the FAA as a federally approved drone testing site.  The state has also built an impressive 20-acre drone business park that attracts businesses the world over to establish themselves there.

But Minnesota is no slouch.   The state has a drone program office in the Office of Aeronautics that provides guidance to commercial users and local officials.   In addition, Minnesota law creates an avigation easement, which means drone operators are protected from nuisance and trespass laws as long as their drones do not disturb people on the ground.  State law also allows authorities to lease low-altitude airspace above trunk highways, which allows state officials to create drone highways above these roadways.  For all of these reasons, drone commerce in the North Star state is booming.

Not surprisingly, Minnesota’s fastest-growing commercial drone sector is agriculture. One local firm, Maverick Drone Systems, sells its drones to farmers across the state.  Recently, the firm has detected a huge surge in sales of its specialized farm drones. Its latest shipment brought 40 boxes of the newest model to its store.  The drones weigh about 60 pounds empty but 75 pounds with their batteries and up to 190 pounds when fully equipped with cameras and specialized attachments that allow for precision crop dusting and fertilizer spraying. The drones can outperform helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, are safer and cheaper to maintain and also reduce the operation’s carbon footprint substantially.

Another huge growth area is public safety.  For years, smaller rural police departments deployed their own drones but recently big city agencies in Minneapolis and St. Paul have acquired their own UAV fleets.  About 80 agencies total in Minnesota now deploy drones, typically as first-responders. Drones can arrive at a crime scene before cops-on-the-beat or SWAT teams and once there can help de-escalate encounters before they turn violent.  They can also pursue criminal suspects and search for lost or missing persons, utilizing infrared thermal imaging cameras to identify persons of interest, even in the dead of night,

Another huge value-added of police drones is enhanced crime and accident scene analysis.  Tony Caspers, mavericks’ public safety director notes:  “You can actually map a crime scene down to the centimeter. So we’re no longer running tape measures and spending hours on a scene. We can take this out of the car crash, we can map and 3D map and print the whole car crash within 5 minutes instead of closing a freeway down for hours.”

The Minneapolis PD has faced citizen concerns about the potential misuse of drones for routine crime patrolling and surveillance of public protests.  To its credit the department has addressed all such concerns head on.  Its policy draft on UAV use, now being reviewed by the city council, clearly states that drones will protect the privacy and civil rights of all local citizens.  Warrants are required for drone crime surveillance and no facial recognition cameras will be used.  In addition, all video images collected are destroyed within 7 days of being collected unless needed for an open crime investigation and subsequent use in a court proceeding.

Looking ahead Minnesota will likely address some remaining gaps in its drone policies.  One is the need for a central facility – a drone “sandbox” – that can allow more drone companies to design, manufacture and test their prototypes.  Minnesota also ranks fairly low nationally in terms of the drone jobs currently available for pilots, mechanics and data analytics.  But as more commercial sectors – including construction, real estate and energy – become aware of Minnesota’s commitment to drone commerce, they will find a solid foundation already in place to rapidly expand their operations.

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