Vladimir Gaplik, CEO of Ukrainian startup FarmFleet, talks about his agricultural drones with an attendee at the Launch Pad Tech Collaboration Event hosted by the Gateway85 Community Improvement District, Georgia Tech, Partnership Gwinnett, and Peachtree Corners Curiosity Lab in Norcross on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Courtesy of Dean Hesse)
Gwinnett County officials and community development leaders are working to attract Ukrainian drone makers. They predict the technology could play a major role in public safety in the next few years.
At Thursday’s Launch Pad Tech Collaboration Event in Norcross, Georgia, attendees were greeted by drones and robots designed for agriculture and security.
Gauthier Vasseur, who moderated one of two panels, said while impressive, they’ll soon have to make room for more.
“What you do is actually what happened in the ‘Minority Report’ with Tom Cruise,” Vasseur told Flock Safety’s Keith Kauffman.
“Give us another year,” Kauffman responded. “We’re going to be really close.”
Flock Safety’s Keith Kauffman speaks about the current and future use of drones for public safety during two panels at the Launch Pad Tech Collaboration Event in Norcross on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Courtesy of Dean Hesse)
Flock Safety is an Atlanta-based company that makes license plate readers, gunshot detectors, artificial intelligence-powered video cameras and, as of October, drones.
Kauffman said their new “first responder” drones can soar within seconds of a 911 call and be on scene before any officers arrive. They are already being used by departments in California, Arizona, Illinois and Georgia.
“We’ve got the World Cup coming in ’26,” Kauffman said. “We’ve got the Olympics in ’28, and so agencies are already coming to us and asking, ‘What do we do?'”
The tech event was hosted by the Gateway85 Community Improvement District, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, Partnership Gwinnett and Peachtree Corners Curiosity Lab.
City of Peachtree Corners Marshal’s Office Captain Henry Mesa eyes a drone at the Launch Pad Tech Collaboration Event in Norcross on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Courtesy of Dean Hesse)
Peachtree Corners and Atlanta police already use drones to clear buildings and search for lost or missing people.
However, two bills making their way through the Georgia legislature this year could ban drones manufactured in Russia and China from being purchased by state agencies.
That’s where Ukraine comes in.
Valerii Iakovenko, founder of the DroneUA group and its American subsidiary, Futurology, said that when the Russia-Ukraine War started, only about a quarter of Ukrainian businesses survived.
“They can be compared with a diamond and under huge pressure, diamonds appear,” Iakovenko said. “Those companies with this technology base, those are not local Ukrainian players. They are global players.”
As for the future, some at the event said pharmaceutical companies could use drones to deliver emergency products, or they could be used in any situation where a human currently puts themselves in danger doing those jobs.
No one addressed the potential for surveillance or privacy concerns.
