Abu Dhabi: An upcoming drones competition taking place in Abu Dhabi will be offering a whopping $500,000 to the winner, as the organisers aim to find the best and latest innovative technology when it comes to drones.
Organised by Krypto Labs, an incubator for start-up companies and businesses, the competition opened its application process on January 28 and is open to participants from around the world. The closing date for submissions is April 8, after which the top five candidates will be selected to present their ideas to a panel of expert judges, with the winner being crowned at an awarding show on May 6.
“The drones innovations contest will seek the most innovative drone start-up companies globally, with a potential investment of $500,000 for the winner. We are launching this competition so that we can to tap into the top companies around the world that are working on some of the latest next-gen drone technologies,” said Anas Zeineddine, manager at Krypto Labs.
“Once the application deadline passes, our team of expert judges will internally review the submissions we receive and then shortlist the top five selections. The top five picks will be invited to Abu Dhabi to pitch their projects, with the winner being selected at the final awarding show on May 6,” he added.
The event will also be different from other drone competitions, explained Zeineddine, who said it is not about drone challenges, but more about new technological concepts and introducing something that is currently not available on the market.
“This isn’t like your typical drone challenge where you just fly the drone, it’s more about new and innovating technologies in the field of drones, so it’s looking at things like new hardware, or new software, and basically better systems.
“We are looking at companies that are offering something more application specific than your usual standard drone, so whether it’s for transport, logistics, security, or even scanning geographical areas. We want to see a new type of drone that is introducing new and more efficient technology than what we currently have today,” he added.
Zeineddine said the competition is mainly targeting smaller and medium enterprise companies, and that the large prize fund would be a good way in attracting the very best.
“The focus is on small and medium enterprises, particularly start-up companies coming up with innovative designs and solutions in this field.
“There is a lot of money on the line with $500,000, but we purposely made it so high because we want to attract serious applicants, companies that are working on projects of a very high calibre that would really be worth the amount of money we are looking to invest in them,” he added.
Where to apply
An online portal specifically made for applications opened on January 28 through their official website: kryptolabs.com
