Romeo Durscher is the Vice President of Public Safety at Auterion, the premier end-to-end operating systems for commercial drones, based on open-standards, flexibility and choices. Born and raised in Switzerland, Romeo came to Auterion after 6 years at DJI, where he built the public safety vertical and has become one of the most trusted global leaders and evangelists in small Unmanned Aircraft Systems integration and deployments. Prior to joining the drone industry, he spent 13 years at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Part of his work is advising first responders and humanitarian organizations on proper drone use and data integration, collaborating with R&D teams on hardware and software solutions, and expanding the drone ecosystem to enhance fully integrated end-to-end solutions and workflows.
Romeo has actively participated in drone missions for search and rescue operations, natural disasters, such as the Tubbs, Carr and Camp Fires in California, emergency responses, and various training exercises. He has led global partnerships, such as European Emergency Number Association (EENA), to develop protocols, standards and best practices for public safety officials to integrate drones into their workflows.
Commercial UAV News named Romeo “One of the 25 Most Influential People in the Commercial Drone Industry”, as well as “One of the Top 7 Drone Visionaries in Emergency Response & Public Safety”. The non-profit global organization DRONERESPONDERS awarded him with their first “Public Safety Drone Leadership Award” as a recognition of his exceptional leadership advancing the implementation of public safety drone programs across the globe.
Romeo has appeared in media forums from ABC’s Good Morning America, New York Times, to Wired magazine and held keynote presentations, panels, workshops and webinars across the world, sharing success stories, use cases, lessons learned, and his vision of the drone industry. Romeo can be found on Twitter at @RomeoCH.
“I am excited to support Commercial UAV Expo Europe with the goal to enhance the use, integration and operation of commercial drones in Europe. Europe has a big potential and great opportunity, but also needs a more focused approach in regards to autonomous robotics and data integration. The European Center for Digital Competitiveness published a report in March 2021 on the importance of Europe taking a more leading role in this key future technology, as autonomous robotics have demonstrated a crucial economic importance. Together with the Commercial UAV Expo Europe and the Amsterdam Drone Week, we will provide opportunities for European drone manufacturers, drone software solution providers, payload and camera manufacturers, as well as end-users, to come together, exchange lessons learned, best practices and and discuss strategic moves to pull in European business leaders and politicians to help establish Europe as a leader in developments of autonomous drones and robotics, and ensure European data sovereignty.”
