(Finance) – In 2024, The professional market (B2B and B2G) of drones in Italy reaches 160 million euros, highlighting a growth of 10% compared to 2023 Three. The Italian market is almost totally (96%) consisting of activities of “Aerial Operations”, Those of small and medium -sized drones in traditional sectors, such as inspections of power lines or monitoring of the territory. The remaining 4% is dedicated to services of “Innovative Air Mobility & Delivery” (Iam & d) for the delivery of goods or passenger transport in the urban and extra-urban area, slightly growing compared to 2023 (3 million euros more). The consolidation of the number of companies continues: In 2024 they dropped to 657 (there were 664 in 2023, 706 in 2022). On average, 5% every year ceases the activity, mainly small and recently born, against 2% of new births. These are the results of the Research of the Droni and advanced air mobility Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milanpresented today during the conference “Drones and advanced air mobility: from experiments to operation”. One of the over 50 different strands of research of Digital Innovation observers of the Polimi School of Management which deal with all the key issues of digital innovation in companies and in the public administration.
In the last year ENAC has traced the rules for the innovative Air Mobility market in Italy by introducing the U-Span guidelines, the VCA regulation and the Sandbox regulation; The Province of Chieti hosted the first U-Span area in Europe; Varese, Piacenza and Ancona were added to the other 6 cities that announced that they want to build a vertor (Bologna, Florence, Milan, Rome, Turin and Venice). The First flight of Amazon Prime Air for freight transport, Delivery experiments via Droni della Posta between Naples and Procida, of medical transport in the health and distribution sector of phytosanitary in the agricultural one. In November the Hypertwin platformto simplify the management of operations with drones. “In short, the one just passed – – underlines the research – was a crucial year for the sector, both from a regulatory and application point of view. Yet, different concerns persist for the financial solidity of the offer companies, especially in the transport segment People. and the experiments are still the majority of projects: the time has come to transform them into operational services “.
“2024 was a crucial year for the sector, which recorded advancements in different areas, from regulatory to application and technological. Despite the technological progress and market evolution – he says Marco Lovera, scientific manager of the Droni Observatory and advanced air mobility – The sector has yet to consolidate key aspects such as the reliability of operations, economic sustainability and social acceptance. Looking at positive developments, the value of the market in Italy grows double -digit for four consecutive years and international projects multiply quickly, testifying to the growing interest by companies and public administrations for this technology. The real challenge of 2025 will be transforming the numerous experiments into concrete projects “.
“Overall, only 16% of the projects with drones surveyed worldwide today is operational – he explains Paola Olivares, director of the Droni Observatory and advanced air mobility -. In 2025 the first services are devonated, perhaps in limited contexts, to implement the experiments started in recent years. To carry out progress, it is essential to intervene on the factors that can increase the maturity of the projects in particular on the regulatory front and identify the market niches in which drones can generate clear benefits. The most promising areas in the short time are linked to applications in the Aerial Operations segment, such as inspections, inspections, safety and surveillance, which could be made of the liquidity necessary to support the investments necessary for the development of the market. The transport of medical material and, to tend, the transport of people in specific contexts “is also of interest”.
The market – In the professional market of drones in Italy, public demand continues to be marginal, equal to 8% of the overall value, despite 37% of the companies of the offer have public bodies between customers, 45% of Italian projects are in the head to public administrations. The companies of the Aerial Operations segment are mainly consisting of service providers (78% of the 646 segment companies) engaged in findings, aerial shots and inspections. Much (47%) consider an essential development of the legislation, which represents the main obstacle to growth. 88% consider it a priority to work on a greater opening to the Beyond Visual Line of Sight flights (those without direct and constant visual visual), on the simplification of authorizations for Visual Line of Sigh flights in the urban area and on the development of further pre-defined Risk Estate. For many companies, the development of U-Space services and the opening of dedicated air corridors is essential. 88% important assets the enhancement of artificial intelligence solutions, 83% increase in the cover of 5G/6g networks to improve control and management of drones. The AMA & D segment is mainly made up of producers, 78% of the 37 companies active in Italy. In this area, concrete projects struggle to take off: many ads do not turn into experiments, some tests are interrupted and some actors risk leaving the market for lack of liquidity. Also in this case, the main obstacle is represented by the legislation, for 47% of companies. For 90% it is important to work on the awareness and involvement of public administrations to support projects, 89% on planning and strategic integration of services in the Mobility and Urban Transport network, 86% on evolution technological and improvement of solutions, in addition to the creation of dedicated air corridors.
International projects – 1,882 are the projects of drones surveyed worldwide between 2019 and 2024 In the first segment, the main application is represented by inspections and inspections (43%), then safety and surveillance (20%) and research and rescue (12%) come. In the IAM & D segment, freight transport represents 72% of the projects, but only 8% are operational, mostly in remote or not very populated areas, testifying to how this area is still not very mature. Even more embryonic is the transport of people (28% of the cases of IAM & D), in which most projects (68%) so far is only announced. For the future of the sector, it will be the development of the vertepipes, which at a global level have reached 131 projects, only 5% during the demonstration tests, the rest in the development or feasibility study phase. Overall, only 16% of the projects analyzed is an operating service that has supported or replaced traditional methods (21% of Aerial Operations projects and 6% of the innovative Air Mobility & Delivery ones). Among the most widespread, the inspections of the electrical lines or linear infrastructures, traditionally conducted with helicopters and operators on the ground, optimized thanks to the use of drones. 84% of projects do not yet generate concrete and continuous revenues for the offer companies: in 34% of cases they are experiments, in 30% declarations of intent and in 20% use one -off. On average, every six activated projects, companies manage to transform one only into an operating service. In this situation it is difficult to guarantee the sustainability of research and development activities, which in 76% of companies in the sector are financed with internal resources, and repay investments in infrastructure and human capital.
The levels of maturity – The analysis of 80 experts involved by the Observatory on 15 users representative houses in the sector brings out three distinct clusters. The embryonic phase are in an average score of 1.6 out of 4, projects such as those of transporting people with drones in urban and extra-urban areas. The transport of goods, the maintenance that requires physical contact of the drone with an infrastructure, warehouse inventories and applications in the agricultural field are being developed with an average score. They are in the consolidation phase, with an average score of 2.7, inspections, air shows, research and rescue, safety and surveillance, as well as findings, mapping and monitoring activities. The regulatory maturity remains the main obstacle, both in general and for individual users. Social acceptance, on the other hand, is considered the most mature factor that has contributed positively to the development of many projects.