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sections. The Drone Readiness Index comprises of four 3.1.3. Research and development
categories (components) and nine subcategories (sub-indices)
over which the countries are assessed.
This is a measure of the conducted research and development in
The main source of data for the sub-index scores is secondary data the drone sector. We look at research being conducted that may
from the World Bank [5], World Economic Forum [4],[6], contribute to the next generation of drones. In the African context,
International Telecommunication Union [7] and The Swiss this is mostly accomplished through trans-national partnerships
Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) through the Global Drone that countries enter into with overseas drone manufacturing
Regulation Database [8]. When data gaps were encountered for companies.
some countries, alternative online data sources were carefully
selected, these included online material such as websites, blogs, 3.2. Readiness
news articles and national sources such as national civil aviation
authorities and ministries websites. The Readiness component measures the extent to which a country
has in place the infrastructure and other factors to support drone
3. STRUCTURE OF THE DRONE READINESS INDEX
projects.
The Drone Readiness Index (DRI) comprises of four components 3.2.1. Local capacity
as illustrated in Figure 1. Each component is further divided into
nine sub-indices. The computation for the overall score of a
country on these specific components is done by successive The local capacity sub-index measures the capacity of the
aggregation of the values assigned to the sub-indices. population to work with drone technology. To compute local
capacity we used data about the number of drone technical
3.1. Environment training schools and the gross enrolment rate in tertiary education.
A country with a high percentage level of university graduates
The success of a country in having drone projects setup depends in offers a large pool of individuals to pick from to specialize in
part on the quality of the operating environment. The Environment drones operation, maintenance and repair. We also consider the
component assesses the country’s drone regulatory framework, availability of drone technical training schools which equip
research and development aimed at drone technology and students with specific skills on operating, maintaining and
investments made by the private or public sector that directly or repairing drones.
indirectly contributes to drone projects and activities.
3.2.2. Communication and energy
3.1.1. Regulations
The communication and energy sub-index captures the country’s
The regulation sub-index assesses the presence or absence of main infrastructures that matter to the setup, maintenance and
regulations on drones, considering the exceptions made to allow overall operation of drone projects. This includes GSM towers for
certain drone projects to be carried out in the country. To quantify communication between drones and base stations as well as
the regulation sub-index, a score was assigned to each country to availability of power supply for the operation of the drone base
represent the presence and quality of drone regulations in the stations. The indicators mobile network coverage rate and Quality
country. The Global Drone regulations database [8] was used as of electricity supply from the Global Competitiveness Report were
the main source of data however, other online sources like used in the computation of the score for this sub-index.
ministry and civil aviation websites and news articles were used
for updated information.
3.2.3. Technology

This sub-index assesses availability of the latest technologies in
the country. To measure this sub-index, we used availability of
latest technologies and government procurement of advanced
technology products indicators from the Global Competitiveness
Report.

3.3. Usage

The Usage component strives to capture the number of drone
projects currently operating in the country and their maturity. This
component has only one Sub-index: Drone Project explained
below.

Fig. 1. Components and sub-indices for the Drone Readiness 3.3.1. Drone projects
Index
3.1.2. Investment
This sub-index maps the number of drone projects operating in a
country, as an indicator of how easily other projects can enter the
This sub-index measures the level of investment made by the country. The projects assessed had a greater impact to the
public or private sector that directly or indirectly contributes to readiness index if they had entered into a maturity phase. This
drone projects. Investment made by government and/or private maturity phase depends on the time the project has been
companies in the form of infrastructure or in monetary terms is operational. Recreational use of drones was not considered owing
considered here. to data availability constraints.

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