Report: China's drone sector accounts for approximately 70% of global patent applications
According to the "China Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Development Report 2023-2024", China accounts for 70% of the global patent applications in the drone field and is the world's largest exporter of civil drones. The report indicates that in 2023, China delivered over 3.17 million civil drones, with an industry scale of 117.43 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 32%. The advancement of drone technology, especially electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), has driven the commercialization of urban air transportation and short-distance logistics
The "China Civil Unmanned Aerial Development Report 2023-2024" released on the 26th shows that China has been the world's largest exporter of civil drones for many years, with patent applications in the drone field accounting for about 70% globally, making it the world's largest source of technology.
On the same day, the 2nd CATA (China Air Transport Association) Aviation Conference was held in Beijing, and the report was released at the General Aviation and Low-Altitude Economy Development Forum.
According to the report, from January to August this year, the total flight time of civil drones in China accumulated to 19.461 million hours, an increase of 15.6% year-on-year. In recent years, the annual growth rate of China's drone industry's economic scale has been 10 percentage points higher than that of traditional general aviation, becoming an important driving force leading the development of the low-altitude economy industry.
The report points out that driven by market demand, the scale of China's drone industry continues to grow. As of the end of 2023, there are over 2,300 civil drone research and development enterprises in China, with over 1,000 mass-produced drone products. In 2023, China delivered over 3.17 million civil drones, with the scale of the civil drone industry reaching 117.43 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 32%.
With the background of smart city construction and digital economic development, the application scenarios of drones continue to enrich. The report believes that with the continuous updating and iteration of drone technology, especially the maturity of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) technology, application scenarios such as urban air transportation and urban short-distance logistics are approaching commercial operation.
The report also points out that the current bottlenecks restricting the development of drones are mainly in the areas of battery life, new material applications, and air-ground interconnection. In the future, high-performance battery research and development, new energy development and utilization, drone identification technology, and other areas have broad prospects for development. (Yin Qianyun)
