The biggest 2022 drone events for the second half of the year

2022 is just about halfway through, and it’s been a good one for the drone industry. After a mostly successful set of in-person conferences during the first half of the year, the second set of 2022 drone events is set to be even bigger.

That said, the COVID-19 pandemic has incited many changes to how they operate. CES 2022 started off a bit slow with light attendance, but the drone industry turned out by April for AUVSI XPONENTIAL in Orlando. Some events are adapting to ever-changing climates within both drones and the broader business travel industry — and one beloved drone event is getting a mega change. That’s Interdrone, the conference that started in Vegas. It’s set to move to New York as part of a visual storytelling festival called create NYC.

Read on to learn more about that — and other major 2022 drone events to expect this year:

PX4 Developer Summit: June 23-24

Austin, Texas

The PX4 Developer Summit is just around the corner, set for June 23 and 24 at the JW Marriott Austin in Austin, Texas.

This annual flagship conference is hosted by the Dronecode Foundation, which is a vendor-neutral foundation for open source drone projects designed to support the drone development community. There, expect to learn more about the PX4 Ecosystem, while networking from contributors, and key stakeholders from organizations that use it.

This conference is largely designed for software developers, hardware engineers, system integrators, and academia who either currently use or are looking to adopt use of the PX4 Ecosystem.

For interested attendees with financial need, the PX4 Developer Summit also offers a Travel Fund. To qualify, you’ll have to apply — and if accepted, travel fund assistance covers travel to, from and during the event. The group says it places an emphasis on funding applicants who are from historically underrepresented or untapped groups and/or those of lower socioeconomic status.

Learn more about the PX4 Developer Summit here.

Commercial UAV Expo: September 6-8

Las Vegas, Nevada

The Commercial UAV Expo, which is arguably the world’s leading commercial drone trade show and conference is set for September 6 – 8, 2022 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas.  And it’s looking like — despite coming off of a pandemic — it could set a record for number of exhibitors.

The conference is set to host more than 200 companies from all over the world on its show floor, including Amazon Prime Air, Skydio and DJI. In fact, expo organizer Lee Corkhill said the team “had to reconfigure our floor plan to meet the demand.”

Besides the epic exhibit hall show floor, expect to find a Startup Pavilion, University Pavilion, flight demos, workshops, happy hours, networking receptions, and educational programming. While keynotes haven’t yet formally been announced, expect to see leaders from the FAA, DroneUp, Matternet, Wing, Zipline and more leading the show.

Learn more about the Commercial UAV Expo here.

Interdrone: September 29-October 1

Brooklyn, New York

The former massive drone conference that had become somewhat of a mainstay for dronies in Vegas pre-pandemic is moving across the country.. InterDrone is now a part of Create NYC, which bills itself as a “3-day immersive experience for visual storytellers.

With the transformation, the old notion of InterDrone will go away. Don’t expect to see many industrial applications like LIDAR or delivery drones here.

Instead, drones will become a fixture of the new festival experience that is Create NYC. This new festival will feature exclusive content and experiences for drone creatives interested in photography, cinematography, videography, and content creation. The event is best suited for drone creatives interested in drone photography and videography. Outside of drones, expect to get inspiration from other aspects of art, such as a live graffiti art show.

The event will run from September 29 to October 1, 2022 at the Duggal Greenhouse which is located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Learn more about the Create NYC festival here.

Oh, and if you’re looking for even more drone-related events, check out the DJI Events page, which is a handy guide to in-person and virtual drone events around the world.