Awarded annually, it recognizes works, studies, or projects that make a unique contribution to innovation in the drone sector. This includes areas such as aircraft design and system technologies (including propulsion, communications, control, etc.), production, operation, drone traffic management, and the development of new applications. The award carries a prize of 12,000 euros, and this year 16 entries were submitted.
The jury highlighted the quality and high level of many of the projects and unanimously decided to grant the award to the project “Lauren Aerotaxi for single-person transport in urban environments” by the Tecnalia Electric Aircraft (TEA) team, a department of the company Tecnalia.
According to the jury, Tecnalia’s work represents a major innovation in the drone sector in Spain, as it is one of the first designs of an electric vertical take-off aerotaxi in the country. It is considered a very promising platform for exploring applications in the field of urban air mobility, a sector with great potential that is still in its early stages of development.
The jury also noted that “this interesting project will be very useful as an aerial platform to test U-SPACE solutions in the field of mobility. This new concept of drone traffic management will be key to the development of numerous solutions and will, through technological advancement, improve the quality of life of our citizens and have a positive impact on our economy.”