BERKELEY DRONESWe define the project scope together, work side by side towardcritical objectives, and stay engaged through ongoing consultation.
Berkeley Drones works with a broad range of organizations responsible for building and stewarding large-scale capabilities, including:
National, regional, and municipal governments seeking to establish drone infrastructure, training programs, and applied research capacity in support of public safety, environmental monitoring, infrastructure resilience, and strategic development.
Military and defense-aligned institutions focused on advanced training, validation environments, autonomous systems, and mission-critical drone applications, operating within defined regulatory and security frameworks.
Sovereign wealth funds, national investment vehicles, and development agencies supporting long-term economic growth, advanced manufacturing, workforce development, and technology ecosystems.
Organizations engaged in humanitarian response, environmental protection, disaster preparedness, and other missions in the public interest where drone-enabled systems can deliver measurable impact.
Entities responsible for national or regional workforce training, business development, and innovation infrastructure, including programs that bridge education, industry, and applied research.
Academic partners seeking to establish or expand drone parks, applied research programs, and advanced training environments, often in collaboration with government or industry stakeholders.
Berkeley Drones structures partnerships to match the scale, complexity, and objectives of each engagement. Our model is designed to support both large, multi-year initiatives and focused advisory efforts, always aligned with long-term capability building. Engagements begin with joint scoping and design, ensuring that infrastructure, training, research, and governance models reflect local priorities, regulatory conditions, and strategic goals.
Projects are staffed with teams sized appropriately to the work required, ranging from comprehensive, end-to-end delivery of national drone ecosystems to targeted consultative support in areas such as standards, systems architecture, or advanced education.
Our default operating assumption is capability transfer. We design and operate systems to the highest available standards, while ensuring that partner organizations retain the right—and are fully prepared—to assume operational control over time. Local ownership and sustainability are built into every engagement from the outset.
Our business model typically combines:
This approach ensures continuity while allowing partners to determine the appropriate long-term operational model.
The Center for Applied Drone Research (CADR) is a formal academic research center at UC Berkeley, based at the university’s Richmond Field Station. The Center supports connections across disciplines, institutions, and industry, creating opportunities for collaborative research and industrial engagement. Berkeley Drones is happy to facilitate an introduction for interested parties who would like to explore whether engagement with the Center would be a good fit.
If your organization is exploring how to build or scale drone capabilities, we welcome the opportunity to discuss potential collaboration.
