Global Drone Market Predicted to Grow Over 5-Fold From 2014 to 2020

The world drone market was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 2014, and the market revenue is forecast to grow to $6.0 billion in 2020, at a CARG 32.5% in the period. The future growth opportunities in the drone market are with the rapid adoption of drones in commercial segments, such as agriculture & forester, mapping/GIS, and power grid inspection.

​The world drone market was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 2014, and the market is forecast to grow to $6.0 billion in 2020, at a 32.5% CAGR in the period, according to a market research report, entitled “The World Market for Drones – 2015 edition”, recently published by Innova Research.

The report focuses on civilian drones and classifies them into consumer drones and commercial drones (The military drones are not discussed in the report) The world drone market is also split by region (North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, EMEA, among others) and country (US, China, France, Germany, Japan, among others), by size, (nano, small, medium, and large), by drone type (multi-rotor drones, fixed-wings, single-rotor VTOLs), and by control manner (autopilot), with unit shipments and revenues for each of the above mentioned drone market segment presented in the report. The commercial drone segment is further split by industry sector, including agriculture & forester, mapping/GIS, media& entertainment, logistics & retails, science research & environment,  oil & gas inspection, power grid inspection, and public safety & security, respectively. Moreover, relevant regulations in major countries, such as US and China are also discussed in the report.

Although the consumer drone segment is larger than the commercial drone segment in terms of revenue at present, we believe that the future growth opportunities in the drone market are with the commercial applications, mainly due to the rapidly increasing adoption of the drones in various commercial sectors, including agriculture & forester, mapping/GIS, and power grid inspection, which are forecast to be the top three drone application sectors in terms of revenue growth in the next five years.

Richard Jun Li, Vice President of Innova Research

Among the key findings:

·         Commercial drones are leading the growth of the world drone market in the next five years. In 2019, revenue from the commercial drone segment is forecast to overtake that from the consumer segment. 

·         The ease on regulatory restrictions to the drones are anticipated to be around 2017, which will result in a boom in the world drone market in 2018 and following years, especially in the commercial sector.

·         While multi-rotor drones remain as the largest drone type from 2014 to 2020, fixed-wings are forecast to grow at the highest rates among the drone types in the forecast period

·         US remains as the largest country in terms of drone market revenue in the next five years, while the higher growth rates are expected for emerging countries, such as China.

About Innova Research

Innova Research is a market research and consulting firm focusing on emerging technologies. With the combination of both technology and market research experts, we offer world-class market and technology intelligences.  Driven by primary research, Innova Research’s market intelligence reports and consulting service help our clients to make right strategic and investment decisions in the fast-changing technology world.  Visit www.innovaresearchinc.com for more information.

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