Advancing UK Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space Solutions Worldwide
  • Home
  • /
  • Aerospace
  • /
  • The Entrepreneurs Network calls for 'Minister for Drones'

Aerospace

The Entrepreneurs Network calls for 'Minister for Drones'

British think tank The Entrepreneurs Network, has today published a report - Digitise the Skies - which calls on the Government to appoint a 'Minister for Drones' to oversee the growth of the drone economy.

Above: Click here to download Digitise the Skies.
Courtesy The Entrepreneurs Network

The report also suggests that an investment of just £10 million to enable all recreational aircraft in the UK to become 'electronically conspicuous', could be crucial to unlocking the full £42 billion potential contribution of drone technology to the UK economy.

Advertisement
ODU RT 2

The drone economy is set to be worth £42 billion to the UK by 2030, according to a separate report, by PwC. This will not be realised, however, without Government intervention to make all recreational aircraft electronically visible to drones, say 'Digitise the Skies’ co-authors Sam Dumitriu and Anton Howes.

Drones and commercial manned aircraft are made visible to each other and to novel traffic control systems by small onboard electronic devices that communicate their location to minimise the risk of collision. The UK’s 20,000 recreational aircraft, which typically operate in the same sub-10,000ft 'Class G' airspace as drones, are not required to be electronically conspicuous - making mass rollout of commercial drone applications unviable on safety grounds - but could be made so at a cost of just £500 each.

“Unmanned passenger transportation is still some way off, but drones have the potential to make an enormous contribution to the UK economy. It’s ridiculous that further testing - and ultimately mass adoption - of potentially hugely impactful applications could be held up or prevented altogether, and the economic benefit lost, as a result of something so trivial,” said Dumitriu, Research Director at The Entrepreneurs Network.

Digitise the Skies highlights a wealth of potential drone applications, including most immediately in the inspection of airports, railways, roads, buildings, powerlines and other critical infrastructure, where using drones would dramatically decrease costs and improve efficiency by enabling problems to be identified and resolved more quickly. Drones could also cut costs and reduce environmental impacts in agriculture by enabling specific crops in need of special attention to be more easily identified.

More complex - especially given that UK airspace is already among the busiest in the world - but already being trialled, is the use of drones to improve access to hard-to-reach places for the delivery of food, medicine, or even just post. Even in densely-populated and well-connected areas, drones could help the NHS move testing kids, vaccines, blood bags, or even organs more quickly to where they are urgently needed.

Digitise the Skies calls on the Government to foot the one-off £10 million bill for equipping the UK’s recreational aircraft with electronic conspicuity devices, noting that the minimal investment could remove a major barrier to the advancement of drone technology and drone-led services and help make projections of a £42 billion drone economy by the end of the decade a reality. It would then be made compulsory for new recreational flyers to equip their aircraft at their own expense.

Advertisement
Farsound RT 2

“The Department for Transport was already offering recreational flyers a 50% rebate on electronic conspicuity devices in a scheme that expires at the end of March - our proposal is merely a low-cost expansion and extension of this to solve an immediate roadblock to important innovation. This would just be toppling the first domino in the chain, but the Government will struggle to find anywhere else where an investment on this scale could deliver such an enormous return at 420,000 per cent,” Dumitriu said.  

Governmental responsibility for the drone industry currently sits with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for aviation, maritime, and emergency planning. The Department for Transport currently has a Secretary of State, two Ministers - one for railways, cycling and walking; another for HS2 - and two other Under Secretaries, one covering roads and the other the future of transportation, including decarbonisation, self-driving vehicles and spaceflight.

“Our recommendation to create a junior ministerial role with specific responsibility for the drone economy comes from a desire to see this exciting and important sector treated with due seriousness, with barriers to innovation able to be dealt with quickly and decisively. The UK has the potential to be the first nation with already-crowded airspace to make drones a key part of its infrastructure but this vision will never be realised if responsibility for the sector remains so deeply buried in DfT. It needs to be a much bigger priority,” said Howes.
 

 

Advertisement
General Atomics LB
Airframe Designs helps to lead additive manufacturing industry body

Aerospace

Airframe Designs helps to lead additive manufacturing industry body

27 March 2024

Airframe Designs has joined a national industry body to help lead the development of additive manufacturing and 3D printing in the UK.

Leonardo secures presence at Bahrain International Airshow

Aerospace Defence Events

Leonardo secures presence at Bahrain International Airshow

26 March 2024

Italian aerospace, defence and security firm, Leonardo has secured its presence at the Bahrain International Airshow for the seventh year.

Made Smarter and tech institutes to demystify digital transformation

Aerospace

Made Smarter and tech institutes to demystify digital transformation

26 March 2024

Made Smarter and leading technology demonstrators have joined forces to demystify digital transformation with a new white paper.

Britten-Norman secures new investment

Aerospace

Britten-Norman secures new investment

25 March 2024

Britten Norman has secured new investment from a group of investors led by 4D Capital Partners LLP (“4D”) The new investors are making funds available to Britten-Norman to fund working capital and to drive successful long-term growth.

Advertisement
Advanced Navigation RT
First disability flying lessons to be launched at Kent airport

Aerospace

First disability flying lessons to be launched at Kent airport

25 March 2024

The UK’s disabled flying charity Aerobility has partnered with Lydd Aero Club in Kent to provide opportunities for lessons and experience flights for people living with disabilities, at Kent airport.

Birmingham Airport supports local employment

Aerospace

Birmingham Airport supports local employment

21 March 2024

Birmingham Airport (BHX) has developed an employability programme aimed at helping local people learn more about the range of careers available in the aviation sector.

Advertisement
Marshall RT