Business Showcase : Quest UAV

By @SimonCocking

Describe the company – the elevator pitch …

QuestUAV Ltd are based in the North-East of England, specialising in providing UAV operating and safety expertise to companies looking to include drone aircraft within their businesses. Clients looking to get a detailed insight into their operations – which needs consistent and highly detailed data – come to us to learn methodologies to achieve that data collection with our UAVs.

This data collection is made possible by a range of sensors – from RGB, twin NDVI, multi-spectral and Infra-red – examples of aerial surveying and monitoring can be found for industries such as:

Agriculture (NDVI – Normalised Differential Vegetation Index) – crops and plantation management and monitoring
Infrastructure Surveying – Road and land and corridor surveying to very high resolutions
Mining – spoilage/tailings monitoring, high-resolution open-cast measurement.
Disaster Management – unfolding emergency monitoring, environmental assessment and impact study data.

How are you different?

We approach each client from the perspective of their requirements. We have an in-house design and test team and also flight training facilities for our clients. We are the only UK UAV manufacturer designing and constructing fixed-wing UAVs from the raw materials through to the finished aircraft – this gives us the ability to look beyond just individual products and delve directly into what a client needs to move themselves towards better results and profits, safe in the knowledge that we have the technical capability to help them achieve that while minimising risk.

Why will the company / product do well?

The UAVs themselves are very robust and highly capable. They are also easy-to-use. We sell internationally and have a strong presence in The Philippines, South America (Brazil) and Europe. We have a focus on safe operation and have well documented check-list, pre-flight operational and fail-safe processes, which we train our clients to follow. We provide whole solutions that fit in our client’s existing strategies.

Where are you based?

Amble, Northumberland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne

When was the company launched?

2011

What have been your biggest wins to date?

Successfully providing 30km2 3d digital model for European Space Agency on NASA’s Mars Rover project in the Atacama desert.
Winning against global UAV competition to be South Korea’s UAV solution for governmental work.
1000% increase in the effectiveness of irrigation for major fruit grower (Dole)
First to market in the completion of 30km range VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) surveys using mobile operations (chase vehicles).
First to market with a range of modular sensor payloads
First to achieve “Owner Operator” capability of UAV operations in Antarctica
Outright winner of North East Business Awards for both Innovation and Small Business in 2013.

What type of people (market segment) are you trying to attract to your product?

We are looking to grow our large agricultural client-base and also, with the launch of a new smaller aircraft in early 2016 (the DATAhawk), we are looking to increase our presence in the hand-launched, quick-turnaround arena.

Tell us about your team?

We have a team of 14 that is growing quarterly. The manufacturing staff are based in our factory facilities in Amble, Northumberland. Drones are constructed from raw materials using highly accurate laser-cutters and CNC machines. Training is also done from units at this facility. R&D, sales and directorial staff share time between The Core, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Northumberland.

What are you long term plans for your product / company?

We have three new UAV models launching in 2016/2017 – we plan to see the company grow to approx 60-strong and 5-million turnover in the next 36 months.

What are your favourite tech gadgets?

N-gauge railway trains. Fun to play with but also been used brilliantly for visualisation during our business development and problem solving!

What tech gadgets do you wish you could use to help you?

Ultrasonic welder – it would replace a bonding process that we currently use with one that is even more efficient.

How do people get in touch with you?

We are available via:

Telephone     +44 (0) 1665 479042

Email   sales@questuav.co.uk

Website  LinkedIn  Facebook 

Twitter  (@QuestUAV)

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.net or @SimonCocking