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The aim of this book is to disseminate part of the results of the H2020 European Project AiRT (Technology Transfer of RPAs for the Creative Industry). In particular, we want to present some results to mitigate safety and security concerns when piloting civil drones in the service sector. European policies concerning drones in general are focused on outdoor drone use, but drones can also be employed indoors. Moreover, European countries have fragmented regulations about the use of drones; therefore, European institutions are endeavouring to combine all these regulations. In this sense not only law but also ethics play a key role in providing the industry with guidelines to gain citizens’ trust. Therefore, our work is based on four pillars:With these results we would like to give advice to the European industry as well as providing new insights for policy makers and the scientific community. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 732433 (reference: H2020-ICT-2016-2017, ). This book reflects the views of the authors and not necessary the position of the Commission.

The aim of this chapter is to review the industry sector in Europe, which involves big companies as well as SMEs. The leading European countries, the main competitors, and the main competitive advantages of the industry are analysed. We have identified five different segments in which companies compete based on distinctive features (toys, hobby/leisure, professional, commercial, and military). The homogenization of the industry, especially in the toy, hobby, and commercial subsectors, is mainly led by big companies, which at the same time also represent the largest market share. We have concluded that there are no entry barriers besides technology and commercial distribution, but the main difficulty that is hampering the industry’s expansion is regulation. This affects in particular the hobby/leisure and commercial drone segments, some areas more than others; while agricultural and military drones are expanding and evolving rapidly, professional filming and photography and toys are still too dependent on safety or legal issues, such as privacy concerns. It is also remarkable that companies from China and the USA are reaching the top positions. This should be taken into consideration by European policy makers, as the decisions made in the next years will be the key to the development of the sector in Europe.

This chapter provides an analysis of the drone policies in the European Union, divided into types of actors (manufacturers, operators, and pilots), drones (more or less than 150 kg, risk classification), licenses, and insurance (depending on the drone and the activity), at the European level. All these policies affect producers and operators. The problems related to licenses, the type of drone and activity, and the chance of obtaining insurance will have an impact on the development of the drone industry in the future. According to the European Union, there are two main current recommendations when regulating drone use: (a) distinguish not by mass but by risk (although mass is a parameter to bear in mind) and (b) do not distinguish the use/mission of the drone, since, depending on the drone, the risks can be the same for both professional and hobby/leisure use.

The aim of this study is to compare the regulations of the three European countries applied to drones or RPASs (remotely piloted aircraft systems) to find similarities and differences, particularly in the use of civil drones for professional and commercial purposes. This analysis gives a clear understanding of the requirements that each country establishes to operate with drones in its territory. As a general rule, countries regulate the activity of drones in their territory by residents in the country, although they leave the door open to operators from other countries to operate legally. In general, the focus of international and national regulations is given to safety. Nevertheless, small drones avoid many of these requirements, as they weigh less than 150 kg and pose fewer risks to people. However, bearing in mind that this kind of work could be related to creative industries, on a professional level, insurance should cover any property damage.

European countries have fragmented regulations about the manufacture and operation of civil drones; therefore, European institutions are trying to combine all these regulations into a common one by 2019. Until this common framework arrives, not only law but also ethics can give guidelines to the industry to satisfy national standards as well as users’ concerns. The European Aviation Safety Agency promotes the highest common standards of safety and develops common safety rules at the European level. This agency and its national equivalents monitor the activity of producers and operators, but, depending on the size of the drone, this activity could cover regulation measures or ethical recommendations. In this sense the aim of our analysis is to categorize the types of hard–soft regulations that we find in the European Union. Our study is based on a content analysis from four sources of information: scientific papers, policies and regulation proposals from the European Union, the regulation and co-regulation of some European countries, and the self-regulation of some drone companies’ associations. In general, few countries have chosen self-regulation as a solution to the problems, although in other economic sectors there are positive experiences. With our results we would like to give advice to the European industry as well as providing academia and policy makers with new insights.

This final chapter exposes the main conclusions of the book and gives some general brief guidelines to the different actors that could be of interest in the drone sector.