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In my previous column, Alaska was highlighted as an enlightened state that promoted drones — unmanned aerial vehicles — to diversify its economy.

UAVs, Alaska discovered, are small and easily transportable, use no fossil fuels (the small battery-powered models), and require a small investment to start flying – and the drones are selling globally.

The Alaska state government published a plan to develop the UAV eco-system, including improving the 49th state’s UAV business climate, attract drone design and manufacturing “anchor” firms to Alaska, advance UAV and STEM education, and market/brand the Alaskan UAV industry.

In the 1980s when California’s Silicon Valley had a jobs boom triggered by the semiconductor and software (and later Internet) revolution (Intel, Apple, Google), many states tried to emulate this economic uplift, and many failed.

Alaska and Hawaii share distance from Silicon Valley (3,000 miles for the former; 2,300 miles for the latter) and any other high tech center or market. Both states have no manufacturing industry, nor does either have a large “internal” consumer market.

Interestingly, Hawaii could have had a high tech-based economy.

In any history of the Internet, the “Alohanet” protocol is referenced as the “precursor” to the Internet (including wired Ethernet, satellite communications, and digital mobile networks) and was developed at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the 1970s and ’80s.

In a wild “hindsight” scenario, what if Hawaii Big Five, banks, retailers, and entrepreneurs had leveraged Alohanet, and created e-banking, e-retail, e-games, etc.: Hawaii’s high tech success would have been the envy of every other American state.

Thirty-plus years after Alohanet, Hawaii’s paradigm shift did not happen. To ensure that the 50th state’s UAV-based “alternative future” can occur, what would be a Hawaii UAV strategy?

• Hawaii State/County/Business alliance should lead in UAV safety and integrate drones in tourism. When a tourist checks into a hotel, a question will be asked, “Did you bring a drone?” If “yes” (thousands of drone-carrying visitors will arrive in Hawaii over the next decade), they will be handed a “Drone-Friendly Hawaii” pamphlet listing the legal places to fly drones, drone shops, and drone clubs – plus new drone businesses with high-paying jobs will proliferate throughout the state, supported by the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce.

• Switch Hawaii Deptartment of Education K-12 STEM programs’ focus to UAVs, not robots. Building drones require a multi-disciplinary background (electrical/mechanical engineering, software, aerodynamics) identical to robotics – yet the personal has never taken off, as opposed to drones, which are selling monthly by the tens of thousands and creating new firms and jobs globally.

• Link UAVs to Hawaii-specific needs: The Hawaiian archipelago is tiny compared to Alaska, yet there are many coastal and interior areas to map – Molokai and Lanai – plus the wildlife of the far northwestern islands. UAVs can profoundly influence archaeological mapping, and contribute to Native Hawaiian culture and history, parallel to emerging Native Alaskan student UAV programs.

• Embed UAVs throughout the University of Hawaii system. (The University of Alaska flies drones wilderness research and has launched an academic drone program this fall; Microsoft and other firms have started to engage with UA.) UAVs should be not an engineering-centric topic, but encompass many UH departments: Shidler College of Business (start-ups), College of Tropical Agriculture (precision agriculture), SOEST (lava/volcanoes), Academy of Creative Media (film-making), Botany (albizia tree mapping), and Burns School of Medicine (post-disaster medicine deliveries).

• Fund community colleges as “centers” for “building” drones, and link to UH Hilo (with a Federal Aviation Administration Certificate of Waiver or Authorization, which allows UH Hilo to use drones for forestry mapping and lava flows. Drone prototype design courses at, say, Honolulu Community College, will attract many students from Kalihi, Tokyo, and Seattle.

• Become a global center for UAVs and disaster management. The Honolulu-based National Disaster Preparedness Training Center is developing a FEMA-certified course in UAVs and disaster management – the first in the U.S. Other Hawaii-based centers include the Pacific Disaster Center and PACOM’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Asia-Pacific government, NGO, and military leaders will complete training courses in Hawaii utilizing an UAV disaster apps database.

• Proliferate UAVs locally for post-disaster monitoring. Each City & County of Honolulu fire station would have its “area” to monitor with its drone, and send images back to the emergency central command post. This is especially significant in areas potentially “cut off” by a hurricane, like Ewa Beach. Ultimately, drones will be used in many applications throughout state and county departments, and spin-offs will be encouraged for start-ups.

• Showcase UAV-shot video in Waikiki. An IMAX-like theater will attract long lines daily with spectacular drone-shot footage of Hawaii’s ecological wonders – this access to global visitors draws drone manufacturers to promote their own models for filming.

• Expand UAV testing sites in Hawaii. Alaska has invested in a FAA drone testing center at Poker Flat Research Range, and Hawaii should aggressively develop more drone testing centers and market itself to the FAA and drone firms.

One startling innovative idea is to launch a Hawaii UAV race: the Indianapolis 500 of drones (which can be as famous as the Ironman Triathlon “brand” or the yachting world’s America’s Cup). Since 1911, the iconic car race spun off many innovations — seat belts, rear-view mirror, front-wheel drive, and hydraulic brakes – now the family SUV’s standard features. Similarly, international enthusiasts’ drone races will result in UAV technical transformations in quantum leaps — why not in Hawaii?

Alaska is betting on a small aerial robot that may be the key for Alaska’s future generations’ livelihoods. Likewise, Hawaii must incorporate UAVs in tourism, education, research and entrepreneurship. After missing its chance to become the global Internet center, there shouldn’t be a Civil Beat op-ed in 2025 that comments wistfully that Hawaii failed to look to its blue tropical skies for the next huge global economic opportunity.