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Developing business ideas for drone technologies
Developing business ideas for drone technologies

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1 Data and policy – an emerging relationship

The data created and used by drones are part of a ‘datasphere’, where information is created and manipulated, stored, ‘flows’ and creates new spaces of human interaction. Across this huge datasphere, it is estimated that between 175–181 zettabytes (i.e. 1021 bytes, see Figure 2) of data will be ‘created, copied, captured and consumed’ annually by 2025 (IDC and Statista, 2021). With ever-increasing large data sets contributing to the creation and analysis of ‘big data’, public and private sectors are prioritising data storage capacity – such as storage in the ‘cloud’ – and its security as critical pieces of developing the world’s data infrastructure. Yet, despite its exponential growth and integral role in human activity, such as agriculture, the datasphere is still vulnerable. For example, in July 2024, an update to a computer security software programme brought down millions of computers running Windows operating systems across the world, and affected businesses in finance, aviation, healthcare and other sectors. The update bug also affected users of virtual ‘cloud’ computers in Microsoft’s Azure cloud as well as in competitor Amazon’s AWS cloud (Li, 2024; Targett, 2024). While machines running other operating systems, such as Mac or Linux, were not affected by the bug, the event has highlighted the interdependence within the largely unregulated datasphere environment.

Five boxes one inside another. The smallest box is labelled Byte (B) – a unit of data, 8 binary digits long.
Figure 2 Data volumes (not to scale)

As such, policymakers are in a race to match the pace of change presented by the digital environment. It is for this reason that drones and their associated data and technologies occupy an ever-changing space. An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2019 report on digital opportunities for agriculture noted that, while innovations in digital technology and data were already revolutionising agricultural practices, there were significant challenges in how to integrate these innovations into policy, risk assessments, policy implementation, and monitoring and oversight plans (OECD, 2019). For entrepreneurs wishing to develop drone technologies and innovations in analytical processes, the regulatory environment is an important but at times confusing landscape of policy at multiple levels and addressing multiple areas of the business. In this week, you will learn about data and some of the key regulatory issues – often related to data – that you will need to consider as you develop your business idea.