The boss of Scottish drone company Cyberhawk Innovations said PwC’s new report made for “interesting reading”.
Chris Fleming, chief executive, added the forecasts were in line with the “rapidly increasing” level of work Cyberhawk was currently experiencing, particularly in the energy sector.
“Drones are now a recognised inspection solution,” he said.
“Our team travels the world daily to inspect live flares, risers, underdecks, internal tanks, pylons, wind turbines and many other difficult to access areas.
“Now in our 10th year, we were part of the advent of drone usage in the energy sector and have seen the usage of this technology dramatically evolve.”
He added: “Aside from the adoption of drones as an inspection and survey technique, the biggest shift in the last decade has been how the data is processed and used to visualise assets.
“From 3D asset models which support construction or decommissioning, through to cloud-based software which converts drone-collected images into a usable inspection report, we anticipate that one of the main drivers of this growth will be the requirement to collect asset data as quickly, safely and cost effectively as possible.
“Drones present a compelling solution for this need and, with advances in technology such as machine learning, we are making great strides in this area.”
Cyberhawk Innovations is headquartered in Livingston, with overseas offices in Houston, Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur. The company operates in more than 25 countries.