TECH
GAME OF DRONES UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES, WHICH ARE OFTEN SEEN AS TOYS, STILL REPRESENT A GROWING MARKET – INCLUDING IN POLAND. IT’S ENOUGH TO SAY THAT EVEN IN A MODERATE SCENARIO, ITS VALUE IN 2026 WOULD REDUCE PUBLIC DEBT BY 60 PERCENT BY KRZYSZTOF MACIEJEWSKI
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rones, commonly known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), really are everywhere. As of December 31, 2017, there were as many as 1.1 million drones in the US alone. At the end of 2019, according to information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), this number will exceed 2 million. As stated by the “White Paper Market for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” prepared by the Polish Economic Institute (PIE), the value of the global civil drone market will reach $73.5 billion in
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2017-2026, which is equivalent to the annual GDP of Lithuania and Latvia. The value of the European market is estimated at $20.7 billion. But what about Poland? “Building a new market segment that has great development opportunities will be the next step. Its scale for 2017-2026 is estimated at PLN 3.3 billion. However, the value of integrating drones into the economy (i.e. the indirect benefits that drone use can bring) is significantly higher,” said Piotr Arak, director of the Polish Economic Institute (PIE).
DRONE HIGHWAYS
At the very beginning it will be necessary to make the U-space concept real, i.e. a space in which remotely controlled, automatic and (in the future) autonomous flying platforms will safely perform operations in line with precise air traffic management. Before full integration of drones into the economy, it is crucial to ensure safety similar to that in road traffic. According to Małgorzata Darowska, the Minister of Infrastructure’s Plenipotentiary for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the era of mass
