GoAERO Global Emergency Response Flyer Competition Announces $500,000 of Awards to Innovators Worldwide with Support from Boeing, NASA, RTX, and Honeywell

$100,000 was provided to 11 Stage 1 winners to support the creation of their life-saving aircraft

An additional $400,000 was provided to 14 U.S.-based university teams with support from NASA

NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the GoAERO Prize, the $2+ million USD international competition to create Emergency Response Flyers, announced 11 Stage 1 Winners and an additional 14 U.S.-based university teams that will receive GoAERO awards with support from NASA to take their prototypes through to the final fly-off, and in partnership with Boeing, RTX and Honeywell. View the new winners video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkWb5OgFflA.

GoAERO is currently composed of 198 teams from 85 countries around the globe creating their Emergency Response Flyers. The innovative aircraft being developed through this competition will be equipped with cutting-edge technology to perform rescue and response missions after natural disasters, medical emergencies, and other humanitarian crises; technology that has the potential to save countless human lives. In the wake of wildfires in California, flooding in Valencia, and congestion snarling traffic around the world, these autonomy-enabled emergency response aircraft are needed now more than ever.

The 11 Stage 1 winners are:

• A2 Cal (Berkeley, California, United States)
• CraneAero (Cranfield, United Kingdom)
• Elevate (Delft, Netherlands)
• Harmony (College Station, TX and Stillwater, OK, United States)
• HORYZN (Munich, Germany)
• LIFT + UT Austin / Texas Aerial Robotics (Austin, Texas, United States)
• MOSTAVIO (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
• MOYA AERO (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
• Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania, United States)
• Tartan Air Rescue (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States)
• Trek Aerospace (Folsom, California, United States)

The 14 awardees receiving funds from GoAERO with support from NASA's University Innovation project are:

• Aggie First Response, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (Greensboro, NC)
• AirCRAFT Lab, Saint Louis University (St. Louis, MO)
• ASCEND Team, University of Texas, Austin (Austin, TX)
• ASDL, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• CPP.AERO Pegasus, California Polytechnic University, Pomona (Pomona, CA)
• GoAERO Purdue, Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
• Harmony, Texas A&M University & Oklahoma State University (College Station, TX and Stillwater, OK)
• PSU Swift, Penn State University (State College, Pennsylvania)
• Rescue Pack, North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
• Talon Lift, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL)
• Tartan Air Rescue, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• The Sloopy Works, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
• VSDDL, Auburn University (Leeds, AL)
• Virginia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, VA)

"Every second counts in an emergency. There is a growing gap between what current aircraft can do and what first responders need. Emergency Response Flyers created through the GoAERO competition will give every first responder life-saving aerial capabilities to ensure dynamic response to modern-day emergencies," said Gwen Lighter, GoAERO Founder and CEO. "Our Stage 1 winners are some of the brightest minds in the aviation and engineering industries, hailing from all over the world."

"We are excited by the innovative designs that GoAERO competitors have presented during this first stage," said Geoff Hunt, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at Pratt & Whitney, an RTX business. "Their work confirms RTX and GoAERO's shared belief that aerospace innovation can be harnessed to connect, protect, and drive positive change in the world."

The GoAERO Prize challenges engineers worldwide to create portable, versatile, and autonomy-enabled Emergency Response Flyers that address not only everyday medical emergencies but also the worsening state of natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies and climate crises around the world. Flyers must be capable of delivering a first responder, evacuating victims in need, providing emergency medical supplies, and aiding in humanitarian efforts.

Teams do not need to win a previous stage prize in order to continue into the next round of the competition, and new teams can join the competition at any time, regardless of whether or not they participated in previous stages.

Following the Stage 1 announcement, GoAERO and its teams will be preparing for Stage 2, where teams will present either their full-scale or sub-scale flyers, and up to eight teams will be awarded additional prize money based on their prototypes. After that, the competition will enter its GoAERO Fly-Off qualifying period, requiring an aircraft that has demonstrated controlled flight capability with a full payload. The final GoAERO Fly-Off event will feature three separate missions testing specific skills and capabilities relevant to public good missions when an additional $1.65 million will be awarded to winning teams.

About GoAERO
GoAERO was founded to create transformative flight technologies that save lives. Our mission is both to originate innovative aerial solutions that respond to challenges posed by natural disasters, medical emergencies, climate change, and humanitarian crises---and to create a collaborative network across industry, government, and aviation and first responder organizations to ensure the safe and effective future deployment of these life-saving aircraft.

In 2024, GoAERO launched the GoAERO Prize, which is a global competition committed to inspiring the creation of Emergency Response Flyers that rescue people in danger and respond to disaster wherever it is found. With more than $2 million in prizes, the competition will create safe, portable, robust, autonomy-enabled flyers. Teams competing in the GoAERO Prize will compete over a three-year period and benefit from expert mentorship, global exposure, access to software, products and services, and monetary prizes. To register a team or learn more about the GoAERO Prize, please visit: GoAEROprize.com.

SOURCE GoAERO