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MORE THAN ‘OIL AND SOIL’

January 12, 2017
by Brian Johnson

UND EXPERTISE IN UNMANNED SYSTEMS, DATA ANALYSIS COULD HELP NORTH DAKOTA
DIVERSIFY ECONOMY

UND President Mark Kennedy (left) congratulates UND alumnus Matt Dunlevy,
president and CEO of SkySkopes, on the growing success of his company. SkySkopes
is the first FAA approved and fully insured UAS business in North Dakota. Photo
courtesy of Matt Dunlevy.

University of North Dakota President Mark Kennedy stresses that he’s a
pro-oil-and-soil guy.

But, Kennedy also says, when it comes to diversifying the state’s economy away
from wide swings in oil and wheat prices, the future lies elsewhere with
industries in which UND already has a strong foothold.

“UND had a bit of a hand in helping to spark the last oil boom, and we’re as
likely to be the ones to help spark the next as any because of our research on
extracting that energy at a lower cost with less environmental impact,” Kennedy
told a gathering of UND alumni and friends in Bismarck on Tuesday. “But if
you’re really going to think broadly about what a university does for a state,
particularly a state that has become overly dependent on oil and soil, we need
universities like the University of North Dakota to diversify the economy.

“Our goal is to be the chief opportunity engine for the state of North Dakota.
We are the ones that can nurture economic diversity.”

Kennedy pointed squarely to opportunities that exist in North Dakota because of
the pioneering efforts in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at UND.

“Why is the UAS industry here in North Dakota?” Kennedy quizzed the gathering.
“Sometimes people forget that … it’s here because we are the No. 1 aviation
university in the country. That’s where it all began.”

Kennedy said more — not less — investment in this surging area of technology
makes sense for North Dakota, especially in a down economy.

UND President Mark Kennedy addresses a gathering at the 10th Annual UAS Summit &
Expo, held in August 2016 in Grand Forks. Kennedy believes UAS research and
innovation, the likes of which is taking place at UND, could be key in helping
North Dakota diversify its economy. Photo by Jackie Lorentz.

Tom Ford, head of the local Base Realignment Impact Committee, says that UND’s
aviation legacy already has had a major economic impact on the region and state.

When the Grand Forks Air Force Base lost its KC-135 tanker mission in 2005,
there was fear that Grand Forks eventually would lose the entire base, which in
its prime had a $600 million annual impact on the economy, Ford said.

Within one year of the lost tanker mission, a new focus arose at the base:
drones.  About the same time, UND was named as a U.S. Department of Defense
Center of Excellence for UAV Education, now called the Center for UAS Research,
Education and Training.

“UAS technology was starting to take off, and the Air Force was the main user of
that emerging technology,” Ford said. “North Dakota was looked at as a possible
test site (for that technology), and part of that was because we had a renowned
aviation school at UND.”

BIG BUSINESS

When Matt Dunlevy was looking to start a new business a few years back, the UND
alumnus saw a major opportunity in the UAS industry because of the support he
found around UND and in North Dakota. Today he’s president and CEO of Grand
Forks-based SkySkopes, a UAS service company that specializes in aerial
inspections.

“One of the reasons we’re able to thrive is being able to rely on the education
our UAS pilots are getting from UND,” Dunlevy said.

And as Dunlevy proves, diversifying an economy with unmanned technology doesn’t
mean oil and soil aren’t still part of the equation. Business has been so good
for his UND spinoff that he recently opened an office in Minot, N.D., near the
oil-rich Bakken Formation of western North Dakota.

“UAS can be used in the oil industry for asset inspections — pipelines, rigs,
pump jacks, all that,” Dunlevy said. “Using UAS instead of traditional
inspection methods saves the oil industry on the mandated inspection costs that
they have to pay, no matter what.”

Dunlevy (center), and Cory Vinger (right) talk with U.S. Air Force Col. Paul
Young (left) from Lackland (Texas) Air Force Base, at the 10th Annual UAS Summit
& Expo held in August in Grand Forks. Photo by Jackie Lorentz.

Dunlevy’s company also is involved in precision agriculture, which is another
breakthrough market for UAS growth in North Dakota.

SkySkopes also is busy working with the utility industry, inspecting power lines
in a collaboration with Israel-based Elbit Systems and Excel Energy.

The project was a good fit for Elbit Systems, which had been looking at the
commercial possibilities for its Hermes 450 UAS platform. That opportunity
evolved out of Research ND, a state program connecting businesses with
university researchers.

UND and UND-affiliated UAS entities also are collaborating with industry giants
such as Northrop Grumman and General Atomics in the new Grand Sky UAS Business
and Aviation Park. Located adjacent to the Grand Forks Air Force Base, the park
is a first of its kind in the United States.

“UND will be an asset to them,” said Nick Flom, director of the Northern Plains
UAS Test Site at UND. “Everybody feeds off of each other. It’s like a cluster.”

SO MUCH DATA

President Kennedy said the UAS industry is built around collecting data. And
with each terabyte collected, there is a need to store, secure and process it
into actionable information that clients can use. However, many UAS companies
doing business in North Dakota send that data to places like Boston, Austin,
Texas, and Palo Alto, Calif., for analyzing.

That’s a trend that needs to be reversed, Kennedy said.

“We want them to be keeping it right here in North Dakota,” Kennedy said.

According to UND computer scientist Travis Desell, that’s where the gold is —
and the jobs.

“There is real potential to build a thriving industry around getting information
out of that data,” Desell said. “Do we want to hold the data here and then ship
it off to California so other companies can make all the money figuring out
what’s in it? Why don’t we do it here?”

With so much raw data being collected in the state through UAS, he said there
would be a massive demand for data scientists in North Dakota.

“It’s the driving force behind all of this advancement nowadays,” Desell said.
“Of all the industries that can help drive our economy, I think this is
potentially one of the biggest.”


MORE FROM AUTHOR

Brian Johnson


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