A Calgary philanthropist has donated $30 million to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to develop a training facility for autonomous and remotely piloted aircraft, also known as drones.
The news: On Thursday, SAIT announced plans to develop the Bissett Autonomous Aviation Park at its campus. Named after David Bissett, a long-time supporter of the technical institute whose donation made the facility possible, the park will be dedicated to training, testing, and certifying both remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) and autonomous aerial vehicle systems.
From the source: “Autonomous flight is a new industry taking shape in real time. I want young Albertans to be building it, not watching it happen somewhere else,” Bissett said in a statement on Thursday. “A province’s prosperity depends on whether its people have the skills the global economy is asking for.”
The context: The Bissett Autonomous Aviation Park will serve a growing cohort of drone-focused programming at SAIT, which has a long history of aviation-based education. In 2023, it launched Western Canada’s first professional RPAS certificate program, and this fall launched the first RPAS diploma program.
The drone industry is growing at a feverish pace in Canada as the federal government looks to build out domestic drone manufacturing capacity and defence capabilities. It’s also been spurred on by deals between Canadian startups like Sentinel R&D and Ukraine’s Airlogix, the latter of which has helped build out an expansive drone development industry in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
Final thought: In Canada, the drone market is expected to hit a $10-billion valuation by 2030. In Alberta, Calgary Economic Development identified autonomous aviation as an emerging driver within the city’s broader aerospace ecosystem, which itself is expected to grow to more than $4 billion by 2030. SAIT’s facility places the school in a position to train the professionals needed to meet that growing demand.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.