Demand for drones continues to increase in the wake of the boom in contact-free products and services following the COVID-19 pandemic. There are new transportation and delivery services using drones now hitting the market, such as the delivery of prescription drugs to patients’ homes. The military drone and anti-drone industries are also growing amid ongoing global conflicts such the Ukraine-Russia war. The drone industry is a leading convergence industry, combining various Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. Convergent industries are expected to exert numerous technical and economic ripple effects through the creation of new lines of business leveraging ICT technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), telecommunications, and big data.

Currently, Chinese firm DJI is the world’s preeminent done manufacturer, with a 70 percent share of the market. Other major players in the drone service area include American tech giants Alphabet (with its Google Wing service) and Amazon, as well as supermarket powerhouse Wal-Mart. These firms are competing in the delivery services segment of the drone market. Korea, however, has no global presence in the drone market, due to the small size and sales of its domestic drone manufacturers. Korea also lags behind leading countries in the drone services segment of the market, and Korea is currently focusing on various pilot projects involving  drones. In this article, I analyze the status of the global drone market and survey the Korean drone industry, identifying future opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses. In addition, I propose directions for policy that could help the domestic drone industry achieve a global presence.

The combined market for commercial and personal drones is set to reach USD 55.8 billion by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 7.8 percent. Commercial drones are driving the growth of the industry (8.3 percent annual growth), as the market for personal drones catering to hobbyists is poised to slow down going forward. However, the development of new drone technologies (such as first person view, for FPV drones), there remains some growth potential in the hobbyist market.

Future growth of the drone market is expected to be strongest in Africa and the Middle East; currently, Asia is the largest market for drones
globally, and is expected to post sales of USD 19.4 billion in 2023. It is followed by Europe (USD 13.4 billion), North America (USD 12.2 billion), Africa and the Middle East (USD 6.6 billion), and South America (USD 2.3 billion). When forecasting changes in market size in 2030 compared to 2022, Africa and the Middle East are projected to have the highest growth rate, at 274.4 percent, followed by South America (155.6 percent) and Oceania (125 percent).