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Taiwanese Drones to Expand Smart Agriculture in ASEAN Markets

Taipei, Taiwan, April 30th, 2020 – According to the Drone Center of Excellence of Ipsos from France, the global commercial drone market has exceeded the size of the consumer segments, and the industrial size is estimated to reach 10 billion US dollars by 2021. While the commercial development of drones is now comprehensively applied in various fields such as infrastructure surveying and mapping, agricultural technology and oil and gas exploration, the commercial development of drones in Taiwan is on the cutting edge. It has covered numerous fields such as information and communication technology, aerospace and agriculture, showing diverse commercial drone applications.

The trend of Taiwan’s drone industry can be observed in the biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE) held by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). According to the post-report in 2019, the number of exhibitors grew 13%, while visitors were more than 42,000 in total. The number of overseas buyers also grew 27%, mostly from Europe, USA, and ASEAN countries. James Huang, Chairman of TAITRA, stated that “The aerospace industry in Taiwan has built a complete supply chain, and our well-made products have been highly recognized in the international markets”. In addition to TADTE, Taiwan’s drone industry will be able to march on the ASEAN countries with TAITRA by 2020, making its debut in the Taiwan Expo and Taiwan Excellence Pavilion.

Taiwan Excellence Awards, a leader in promoting and recognizing innovative Taiwanese brands and products. The whole promotion plan which organized by TAITRA and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, R.O.C, has identified Taiwanese unmanned vehicles with unlimited potentials in recent years. The Taiwan Excellence Awards also share drone-based solutions in various markets and industries. Take agriculture for instance, GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology Inc. is highly recognized in ASEAN markets. It has established a joint venture company in Malaysia, applying commercial drones to increase the production of local palm oil and rice. In the Philippines and Taiwan Excellence Smart City Seminar, GEOSAT’s ALPAS-Smart Agriculture Unmanned Helicopter was also used as a basis to promote smart agriculture solutions, being admired by many agribusiness firms in Mindanao.

While Taiwan and the neighboring Indo-Pacific regions are moving toward the precision agriculture. They are both facing the challenges of aging and labor shortages. Walter Yeh, TAITRA President and CEO, claimed that “With pesticide-spraying drones, smart agriculture can solve the aging and labor shortage”. Being encouraged by the “5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan”, drone-related service providers have been actively investigated “New Agriculture Technology,” kicking off industry-academia cooperation and seeking the opportunities of cross-industry alliances.

As for other Taiwan Excellence awarding companies, ALIGN has demonstrated its “DEMETER E1 Agricultural Helicopter” in the TADTE and engaged in a strategic partnership with the local farmers’ association, assisting with spraying pesticides in the rice fields of Chiayi. Thunder Tiger, the inventor of “CX-180 Agriculture Coaxial Helicopter”, has established a joint venture company with Lanlix Crop Science Co., Ltd., aiming at a broader share of smart agriculture. Moreover, Thunder Tiger has further improved the CX-180 drones by technological cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom and developed the “Chunghua Telecom Unmanned Air Systems (CHTUAS)” to overcome the communication obstacles caused by compound disasters.

For more information on the drone industry, please visit our website. (https://www.taiwanexcellence.org/en) for more details