Cloud innovation: Leading companies in drone launching techniques for the aerospace and defence industry

The aerospace and defence industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the use of big data, and artificial intelligence, and growing importance of technologies such as machine learning and edge computing. In the last three years alone, there have been over 174,000 patents filed and granted in the aerospace and defence industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Cloud in Aerospace, Defence & Security: Drone launching techniques.

However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity. 

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

180+ innovations will shape the aerospace and defence industry 

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the aerospace and defence industry using innovation intensity models built on over 262,000 patents, there are 180+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry. 

Within the emerging innovation stage, beamforming antennas, route guidance sensor networks, and V2V enabled autonomous vehicles are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Drone launching techniques, EV charging smart grids, and location-based network services are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are indoor navigation systems and indoor positioning systems, which is now well established in the industry. 

Innovation S-curve for cloud in the aerospace and defence industry