Since 2013, Italian company TopView has been designing, customising and producing RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems).
Thanks to the technologies it patented, TopView [1] helps support companies who need custom RPA (Remote Piloted Aircrafts) – drone systems for a wide range of sectors, from the construction and building industry to other aerial, maritime and land applications.
Among these, custom payloads, test and validation platforms, drones on custom user specifications, aero photogrammetry and Change Detection, and also photovoltaic field efficiency analysis, wind turbines inspections, theoretical and practical training for RPAS pilots and theoretical and practical training on thermographic themes.
Despite being a relatively young company, TopView already has high aspirations to make its solutions known and used worldwide.
In 2016, it became a technical partner of the first Flight Training Centre authorized by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority in South Italy. The company also conducts training and research projects with Italian, Dutch and Danish universities to push UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) innovation forward.
When the EU Gateway | Business Avenues programme offered a new business mission for Construction & Building Technologies [2], TopView didn’t waver to apply and have a go at entering Asian markets.
Held in Tokyo, the mission was a triumph for the Italian company.
Indeed our young company had the chance to go international, thanks to EU Gateway | Business Avenues support, particularly the Construction & Building Technologies mission last year in Tokyo. – Alberto Mennella, Chief Technical Officer, TopView (Italy).
During the mission week, the EU Gateway | Business Avenues team enabled participant companies to take part in pre-arranged and spontaneous business-to-business meetings with targeted Japanese companies.
Thanks to these efforts, TopView was able to meet numerous local companies that became interested in the targeted solutions it has to offer.
After the mission, we had the chance to create new relationships and partnerships especially with three Japanese companies and keep such contacts during the year. – Alberto Mennella, Chief Technical Officer, TopView (Italy)
Of these, two Japanese companies became research partners in a joint EU R&D programme that focuses on business support (Cost-Benefit Analysis and sales strategies), for the introduction of our products in the Japanese market (Asia University of Tokyo [3]) and Local Regulation and Compliance for Electronic equipment for the Japanese market (JCI [4]). – Alberto Mennella, Chief Technical Officer, TopView (Italy).
To better fit the needs of the Japanese market, TopView is committed to do its research and offer highly customised solutions.
This means rethinking conventional solutions, all while complying with local capabilities and regulations.
Groundbreaking solutions take longer to achieve widespread adoption.
Even in a market that is rapidly moving, such as Japan, there are barriers to overcome, especially for foreign companies.
That’s where the need to find the right partners becomes crucial.
We had the chance to send some samples of our products to the technical partner (JCI) in order to check technical compliance with the local telecommunications network. – Alberto Mennella, Chief Technical Officer, TopView (Italy).
To realise its expansion plans to Asia, TopView took advantage of the all meetings, company showcases, exhibitions and networking events that the EU-funded business mission offered.
Through these, it acquired not only new research partners but also potential partners in industries not yet explored.
Thanks to the side events organized by EU Gateway | Business Avenues, we had the chance to keep in contact with other Japanese companies (in particular, people from Hitachi group) working in the railway industry. Since we have a strong partnership with the Italian Hitachi (previously Ansaldo STS Group), we were reasoning about possible innovative services to offer for railways track inspections with drones, involving both Japanese and Italian Hitachi divisions working in this area.– Alberto Mennella, Chief Technical Officer, TopView (Italy).
Business missions come with many obvious benefits, like finding new customers and partners on Asian markets, but they also push participant companies to think outside the box and explore applying their technologies to new industries.
To become adequate for new markets, European companies also have to be creative in their efforts to present products that fit very specific needs.
This forward-thinking approach helps thrust fields like Remote Piloted Aircraft construction ahead and promotes innovation on a global scale.
EU Gateway | Business Avenues organises new missions in 2020.
Apply now, and your company could become this much closer to reaching its business expansion goals.
Check our business mission calendar [5].