As part of the SORA4UAM project, initial insights into the public perception of drones were gained during the ‘Long Night of Research’ at FH Joanneum in Graz. Participation was organised by project partner AIRlabs Austria, a nationwide BMK innovation laboratory that focuses on the sustainable development and validation of civil unmanned aviation systems.

Visitors of all ages were given the opportunity to learn about the project’s goals and participate in an interactive survey. A specially designed poster allowed participants to indicate the areas in which drones could be most useful. The options were: environment, infrastructure, medicine, leisure and everyday life. There was also an option to select “no benefit of use”. Each participant received four coloured stickers – red (up to 20 years old), blue (20–35 years old) and black (35 years and older) – to mark the most important areas of application.

A total of 199 votes were cast for the environment, followed by infrastructure (113), medicine (99) and leisure and everyday life (68 each). What is striking is that none of the respondents saw no benefit in drone technology. Areas of application that promise social added value were chosen particularly often – especially environment, medicine and infrastructure. This shows that drones are particularly well accepted when they benefit the general public.

A clear picture also emerges when comparing different age groups: the environment was the most important issue in all age groups. While 42% of younger respondents (aged 20 and under) considered the environment to be the most important issue, this figure was 25% among 20- to 35-year-olds. Categories such as medicine and everyday life, on the other hand, were rated similarly by all age groups.

The results suggest that acceptance of urban air mobility (UAM) depends heavily on the extent to which it is perceived as socially beneficial. Environmental and safety aspects play a key role in this regard – an important signal for the future development of air mobility concepts.