When the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris caught fire last year, Chinese-made drones were deployed to fly close to the blaze. They relayed video to the firefighters, helping them direct their hoses and ultimately save the cathedral’s structure.

The deployment was hailed in China as a big success for home-grown technology. But there was another aspect to the story. Before the drones could fly, French authorities had to lift restrictions that in normal times prevent them from buzzing through Parisian skies.

Financial Times