UAS Challenge 2020 Business Proposition award: feedback from the Dragon's Den

Find out what the judges were looking for and why Team ANTS from the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh ultimately won.

Usually as part of the demonstration event, teams participate in a Dragon’s Den event to pitch their business case for their unmanned aircraft system (UAS). However this year, teams submitted their 10 min pitches online, for the Dragons to review.

The purpose of the Dragon's Den event is to link UAS design and development with real world economics. In order for an aircraft program to be judged as a true success, it must be profitable!

There are many examples in the aerospace industry of technically advanced aircraft programs which failed due to a weak business case and many never got off the drawing board. Aircraft need to offer good technical performance, be cost competitive and service an existing market.

In the pitch, the Dragons were looking for teams to summarise their UAS capabilities, highlight their target market, revenue model, sales projections and detail how their UAS fits their target market.

The standards of presentations submitted were very good this year and the judges have to commend QUB, Huddersfield and Loughborough on their pitches. However, for the Dragons there was one clear winner: Team ANTS.

The team delivered a well-presented business case, in which they demonstrated their knowledge of their target market with practical examples of how their UAS could be applied. A two-pronged lease and service revenue model serving the emergency response and agricultural industries. The model was backed up with realistic sales projections and costs.

Congratulations Team ANTS on winning the 2020 UAS Challenge – Business Proposition Award!