Drone technology and maritime activities will be better integrated and help build a highly-skilled workforce, thanks to a new partnership.

AMC Search, the commercial arm of the Australian Maritime College, and The Institute for Drone Technology have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring drone technology training into the maritime training environment.

Drone technology has unprecedented capacity to provide improvements in safety, efficiency and innovation in the maritime environment.

The partnership will be launched at the MIAL SEA18 conference in Canberra on October 16.

The first three courses – Remote Pilot’s License, Safe Drone Operation for Managers and Flight Basics: Hazards, Batteries and the Law – will be offered out of the Australian Maritime College’s Sydney Study Centre in Darling Harbour in November.

The agreement will see relevant training products delivered from beginner to advanced levels, and include a variety of delivery methods so workers from across maritime can access world-class training and get the skills they need to make the most of this revolutionary technology.

Dr Joel Spencer, CEO of The Institute for Drone Technology, said the organisation was excited to work with AMC Search to extend the training offering into drone technology for maritime.

“The potential for drone technology in maritime is enormous and centrally concerns improving safety for workers. This is the first time a drone technology organisation has teamed with a maritime training organisation to provide contextualised drone training in a marine environment,” Dr Spencer said.

“It is envisioned that by working together into the future this project could be expanded in a number of ways to further and more effectively embed drone technology training into maritime training programs,” he said.

AMC Search Training Manager Emilie Donovan said the new drone training courses were being offered in response to industry demand.

“As the applications of drones in the maritime industry become better understood, and drone usage increases in our sector, the need for specialised maritime drone training became apparent,” Ms Donovan said.