7th International Airship Convention - Blog Readers Questions

I recieved a very nice comment in my last blog post about the convention. The reader asked the following 2 questions and I will try to answer them from my point of view, others who have been at the convention or have their own opinion about this topic are very welcome to chime in in the comments section of this post.

Question 1: Is there any talk or whispers about the impact this global recession or depression will have on the Airship industry?

Of course everybody is aware of the problems and the global recession that is currently happening. Finding investors in these times might become even more difficult than it already is, but the possibilities for airships to do surveillance more efficient than helicopters or the option to transport cargo by airship without the need for road infrastructures might actually be a competitive advantage and might lead to opening of markets for airships because the price difference compared to traditional solutions might tip in favor for airships. Of course this is just speculation but the general tone at the conference to me was very optimistic. There is a new Research Framework Programme by the European Comission called FP7 that might bring new funding opportunities to the Airship Industry. I will be talking about this in the followup posts to the conference.

Question 2: Any room in this convention for the individual airship enthusiast. The home builder?

There is a lot of room for the individual, if you are building an airship a conference is a perfect place to talk about what you did and what your design considerations were. In fact there were a lot of students who presented their work and models, individuals who are just starting their own company, smaller companies that are just developing a small new airship, researchers who use airships for scientific exploration, historians, vision papers given by members from organizations like the Airship Association, ISO Polar, even the United Nations World Food Program presented a paper. And of course larger companies presenting their new developments like RosAeroSystems and others. The full coverage of all sessions will follow in the comming weeks.

So now I open up the comments for you the readers what do you think, please leave your thoughts in the comments.