The Australian government has announced an iMove study in partnership with the University of South Australia to investigate Australia’s emerging drone sector by summarising the current state of development and lessons learnt from other countries. It will also assess the demographic and geographic determinants of increased drone uptake in Australia, and identify key benefits from and challenges to increased drone uptake from the perspective of different communities and sub-populations.
The project is led by Australia’s national centre for transport and mobility R&D, iMove, and aims to assess the demographic and geographic determinants of increased drone uptake both at the aggregate and for different communities and sub-populations.
Project objectives
The objectives of this study are three-fold:
- Provide an overview of the drone sector in Australia, and a comparison with current and emerging sectors in other countries;
- Assess the demographic and geographic determinants of increased drone uptake in Australia; and
- Identify key benefits from and challenges to increased drone uptake from the perspective of different communities and sub-populations.
In Australia, it has been projected that medium drone uptake can boost Australian productivity to a significant extent in the next few decades (Deloitte Access report, 2021). The report estimates that successful uptake of drones will create 5,500 new jobs every year and will boost real GDP by AUD14.5 billion with a cost saving of AUD9.3 billion across all sectors between 2020 and 2040.
Applications are wide ranging, for example improving urban and regional air mobility, delivery of goods (including medical and pathology equipment), use in agriculture, construction, mining and defence, enabling scientific outcomes, natural resource management, disaster response, tourism, the arts, and recreational activities.
Whilst all these benefits appeal to a greater number of industries and government organisations to adopt drones, there are many who still doubt the cost effectiveness, privacy, security, and safety of various applications. The market and non-market benefits and challenges of drones may not be the same across all sectors, use cases, and geographies.
Against this backdrop, this project aims to assess the demographic and geographic determinants of increased drone uptake both at the aggregate and for different communities and sub-populations.
Project updates can be viewed here
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