KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 – Malaysia’s drone industry has been ranked as the top Southeast Asian country in the Drone Readiness Index (DRI) 2023, reaching the 21st spot in the index, up from the 30th position last year, said the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI).
It said that the country’s core readiness for drones improved by 29 percentage points in the DRI, hitting 60 per cent from 31 per cent in 2022.
In a statement today, MRANTI said the improvement was a clear indicator of Malaysia’s commitment to fast-track its potential in drone technology.
“This puts the drone industry in Malaysia on a clear growth trajectory with the potential to contribute RM50.71 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create 100,000 job opportunities by 2030,” it said.
MRANTI said the yearly DRI updates, which were part of Drone Industry Insights’ (DII) annual Drone Regulation Report, rate participating countries on six parameters, namely applicability, operational scope, human resources, administrative infrastructure, certification, and airspace integration.
“The report indicated that countries with the strongest increase in drone readiness are the United Kingdom, Brazil, Switzerland, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and China.
“Malaysia achieved a 100 per cent rating in applicability, human resources and certification, with areas to improve in operational scope (50 per cent readiness), airspace integration (40 per cent readiness) and administrative infrastructure (25 per cent readiness),” it said.
MRANTI chief executive officer Dzuleira Abu Bakar said achievement in the DRI was an early outcome of the Malaysia Drone Technology Action Plan 2022 – 2030 (MDTAP30) and other initiatives which involved strong collaboration by multiple agencies and stakeholders.
She said the MDTAP30 key missions focused on the development of a national unmanned traffic management system, a digital drone registration portal, special drone use-case adoption in key sectors and talent development such as the accreditation of remote pilot training organisations.
MRANTI, which is the coordinating agency and secretariat for MDTAP30, also launched Area57, a centre of excellence to boost the drone industry in Malaysia in 2021.
