Altair and Startup India have announced the winners of the Altair Startup Challenge. The challenge, which focused on next-generation aerospace and defense system development, provided mentorship and technology access to 11 finalists and awarded cash prizes to the top four winners. Altair, a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence, revealed the results of the year-long Altair Startup Challenge 2022 (ASC2022), conducted in partnership with Startup India—an initiative by the Indian government to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in India.
The ASC2022 required participating startups to identify Altair technologies driving the design and engineering of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), wearable devices, robots, drones, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and satellite systems. Out of 74 applicants, 11 companies were shortlisted and received mentorship and free access to Altair technologies for over six months. The winners were determined based on their effective application of Altair technologies and the enhancement of their product designs and potential business impact.
Seven of the shortlisted finalists—Hyperspawn, Quarkifi, Truspectra India, Tryambh Innovations, Aero-insights, Nautical Wings, Sapeint Aerospace, Coratia Technologies, CTTD Epeace, Infinity Arsenal, and Aerogravity—presented their ideas, designs, and commercial plans to a panel of judges from DRDO, ISRO, and commercial organisations on October 5, 2023.
The winners of the ASC2022 are as follows:
- Platinum Winner (Rs 2,50,000): Aerogravity, which specialises in developing drone port systems facilitating autonomous landing and takeoff of industrial drones for surveillance, survey, and payload delivery applications.
- Gold Winners (Rs 1,75,000 each): The first winner in this category, Hyperspawn, is a robotics company developing teleoperated humanoid robots acting as users' physical avatars globally. The second winner, Truspectra India, focuses on innovating and conducting research and development for the next generation of mobile collaborative robots to create smart, flexible production systems for the future.
- Bronze Winner (Rs 1,00,000): Quarkifi, a company creating smart space automation using Internet of Things (IoT) technology and holding a patent for their innovative solution.
“Startups play a vital role in driving innovation and economic growth. Supporting startups is a way to encourage novel ideas and solutions that can benefit countless industries around the globe. We want to encourage startups that drive the creation of intellectual property in India, startups that create great technologies, and accelerate economic growth,” said Vishwanath Rao, Managing Director, Altair India and GCC countries.
Support for the ASC2022 was provided by various organisations, including Startup India, IITDelhi|FITT, Drone Federation of India, SAE India, IIT Bombay | SINE, IISc, AESI, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, Bhau Institute of Technology, STEP, and icreate. Altair and Startup India have been hosting this challenge since 2019, with more than 500 startups applying over the years. Altair has mentored over 50 startups through technology and technical support, with many now commercialising their solutions.