Ahmedabad,
7th Oct 2025 : iCreate (International
Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology), India’s leading incubator for
tech-innovation startups, today announced the launch of the iCreate
Drone Challenge 2025 – the nation’s first-of-its-kind, large-scale initiative
to accelerate drone innovation. 

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)