Deeptech Startup AVGARDE Wins the DRDO Dare to Dream 4.0 Contest for National Level Innovations in Counter Drone Technologies

Deeptech startup AVGARDE was declared the winner of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dare to Dream 4.0 Contest for national level startup innovations in ‘countermeasures for drone and swarm of drones’. Incubated at IISc Bangalore and IIT Guwahati, AVGARDE is building a cutting-edge AI-driven object sensing platform for low-altitude airspace management. Founded in Assam, AVGARDE has offices in Bangalore and Guwahati, with Pan-India operations and associates supporting customers across the country.The prestigious DRDO Dare to Dream competition provides a unique opportunity for startups and innovators to address key challenges in emerging technologies that can help boost India’s aerospace and defence capabilities, while contributing towards the country’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem to achieve technological self-reliance.

Manash Bhuyan, Managing Director & Co-Founder of AVGARDE said: “We are honoured and proud to be a winner at DRDO’s coveted innovation contest, Dare to Dream 4.0. This award is a testimony of our globally competitive technology developed by our amazingly talented team. With this recognition, the innovation journey of AVGARDE is further validated as we continue to develop our best-in-class AI-driven airspace management platform for various applications, including drone countermeasures. With the proliferation of drones, the low-altitude airspace is confronted with many potential risks and threats for civilian and military dual-use cases. As we address these new-age challenges, AVGARDE is motivated to develop pioneering indigenous technology and contribute effectively towards a self-reliant India.”

Currently, the AVGARDE DeepSense platform offers three product lines – (1) DroneSafe – an AI-enabled Counter Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) to detect, classify, mitigate and report aerial risks/threats from drones, UAVs and other aerial objects; (2) DIWAR – an all-band GPS Jammer for tackling drones and inhibiting its airborne motions; and (3) BirdsEye – an intelligent Bird Detection and Monitoring Radar (BDMR) for dual-use aviation safety and preventing Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH).

Nilutpal Choudhury, CEO & Co-Founder of AVGARDE said: “This award is a phenomenal milestone for AVGARDE and I have immense admiration and gratitude for our diverse and great team. DRDO’s Dare to Dream is a great platform to validate innovations as it’s a multi-stage screening process with various selection criteria considering aspects of novelty, applicability, implementability, technical merit and maturity. Therefore, it is a great honour to be recognized by DRDO, our country’s esteemed R&D organization for aerospace and defence. Our team is further encouraged to innovate continuously to develop advanced home-grown technologies to fulfill our commitment towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.”