Designed to push the frontiers of speed, payload, endurance, and critical component development, the iCreate Drone Challenge will provide India’s drone innovators with a national platform, rigorous evaluation through regional qualifier rounds with component showcases, and access to world-class mentorship from national and international experts. Selected startups and innovators will benefit from a ₹2 crore funding pool, a fully sponsored residential prototype acceleration programme at iCreate, state-of-the-art lab access, software credits, rapid prototyping facilities, component sourcing support, mentorship and industry connections. Additionally, they’ll also get opportunities to showcase their breakthroughs to industry, government, and investors. Selected teams may also secure pilot projects and incubation opportunities with iCreate.The challenge is being organised in collaboration with Startup India, DPIIT, DGCA, and premier educational and research institutes across India, ensuring the highest technical and regulatory standards.
“The iCreate Drone Challenge is a bold step towards building India’s leadership in drone innovation. By bringing Startup India’s reach together with iCreate’s deep tech expertise, this initiative gives our startups a national platform to test, validate and scale world-class drone technologies, aligning with our mission to make India a global hub for cutting-edge manufacturing and innovation.”
— Dr. Sumeet Kumar Jarangal, Director, DPIIT
The iCreate Drone Challenge 2025 features two tracks – Track 01: Aerial Excellence and Track 02: Component Indigenisation, with three high-impact themes under the first track – The Velocity Sprint (fastest drone), The Power Lift (highest payload-to-weight ratio), and The Aether Marathon (longest flight time). Track 02 focuses on developing critical drone components, including propulsion & power systems, energy systems, avionics & autonomy, sensors & payloads, materials & structures, and thrust-vectoring systems, to reduce import dependence and set global performance benchmarks. These tracks are crafted to set new global standards in drone performance, efficiency, affordability, and resilience, reinforcing India’s vision of becoming a global drone hub by 2030.
‘At Dassault Systèmes, we deeply value initiatives like the iCreate Drone challenge that push the boundaries of innovation and give startups a platform to thrive. Through our SOLIDWORKS Startup Program and the power of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, we take great pride in lending not only cutting-edge technology development support but also our global experience and guidance. With a strong legacy of working in aviation and mobility, it gives us immense satisfaction to contribute to a shared outcome — enabling Indian startups to design, simulate, and deliver world-class solutions that meet global benchmarks.’ Mr Abhishek Bali - Director, Mainstream Innovation and SOLIDWORKS for Startups
“This initiative reflects iCreate’s mission to go beyond routine hackathons and create transformative challenges. We’re giving innovators a national stage, hands-on support, market access, and component-level guidance to build world-class drone technologies from India for the world.” — Avinash Punekar, CEO, iCreate
By setting audacious performance targets and offering end-to-end support—from funding and mentorship to regulatory guidance—the iCreate Drone Challenge is empowering today’s generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to build tomorrow’s drone technologies. It gives young talent and emerging startups the tools, networks and visibility to translate ideas into globally competitive products, while also strengthening the broader drone ecosystem across defence, logistics, agriculture, infrastructure and emergency response. In doing so, the Challenge nurtures a new wave of deep-tech leaders who can position India as a hub of cutting-edge drone innovation.
Applications open on 1 October 2025, closing on 15 November 2025, with regional qualifier rounds scheduled between 15–31 November 2025. Selected teams will undergo a prototype acceleration programme at iCreate in December, culminating in a Grand Demo Day on 9 January 2026.
About iCreate
Recognised as the Impact Incubator of the Year 2024 at the Micelio Mobility Awards and the recipient of the National Award for Technology Business Incubator 2020, iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) is India’s largest incubator for transforming tech-driven startups into successful businesses. Supported by the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat, iCreate operates from a 40-acre campus at Dev Dholera in Ahmedabad. It has supported over 877 innovations and secured 60+ patents, with focus areas including embedded systems, IoT, electric mobility, agritech, smart cities, health tech, industrial automation and renewable energy.
Additional quote from partners and stakeholders
“The iCreate Drone Challenge 2025 is a timely and visionary initiative that embodies the spirit of Atmanirbharta by nurturing next-generation drone technologies and advancing critical component-level indigenisation. Its objectives to redefine global benchmarks in speed, endurance, and payload performance while simultaneously strengthening India’s indigenous supply chain could not be more relevant in the current context. At a time when self-reliance and innovation are national imperatives, such challenges serve as a launchpad for our startups and innovators to not only meet but set international standards. DGCA is happy to associate with this challenge and contribute towards the startup ecosystem.” — Mr. Sanjay Bramhane, Joint Director General, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
