NEW YORK, June 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The GoFly Prize, a two-year, $2 million international competition to create a personal flying device, today announced the 10 winners of Phase I of the challenge. The 10 winning designs earned the highest marks from GoFly’s panel of industry expert judges who reviewed hundreds of designs from teams around the world looking to create a personal flying device that can safely be used by anyone, anywhere. With Boeing as Grand Sponsor, the competition launched in September 2017, and since then, has rallied thousands of innovators from around the world to participate.
The winners are in alphabetical order (by Flying Device Name):
- Blue Sparrow: Blue Sparrow, United States
- ERA Aviabike: Aeroxo AC, Latvia
- Flykart2: Trek Aerospace, United States
- Harmony: Texas A&M University, United States
- HummingBuzz: Georgia Tech, United States
- Leap : Leap, United Kingdom
- Mamba : Mamba, United States
- Pegasus I: Scoop, United States
- Silverwing : Silverwing, The Netherlands
- teTra 3 : teTra, Japan
Never before — in the history of human mobility — has a competition of this size and scale been achieved. GoFly is a community comprised of almost 3,000 innovators across 95 countries , and the 10 winning teams from Latvia, the Netherlands, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States , underscore the competition’s truly international scope. Each winning design lays the foundation for a prototype that will safely carry a person 20 miles without refueling or recharging with vertical, or near vertical take-off and landing capability.
“This is the most significant milestone to date in the trajectory of the GoFly Prize, and a major moment for the future of transportation. We have had innovators from every region of the globe submit designs that will bring personal flying devices to the public,” said GoFly CEO Gwen Lighter. “In launching the competition, we wanted to inspire the world’s greatest inventors and builders to create a device that will make people fly. These innovators are reshaping human mobility and will change the world.”
Submissions for the awards ended on April 18, 2018, which also marked the official close of Phase I of the competition; Innovators are now in the process of turning their designs into fully-functioning flying devices. Teams do not need to have submitted a design for the Phase I in order to compete in Phase II — and engineers, designers, and builders from around the world are all encouraged to join the GoFly Prize and turn their ideas into reality. Along with additional details about the winning teams, each design can be viewed at GoFlyPrize.com . “The winning designs of Phase I demonstrate that there are still creative, bold innovators worldwide who are captivated and inspired by powered flight,” said Boeing Chief Technology Officer Greg Hyslop. “The ingenuity of these ideas shows how the GoFly Prize competition aligns to Boeing’s mission of changing the world through aerospace innovation. We’re looking forward to seeing these innovators turn their ideas into reality.”
Now that the first prizes have been awarded, GoFly will continue to award almost $2 million over the next 16 months: Phase II awards will include four $50,000 prizes awarded to teams with the best prototypes in March 2019; and Phase III will unveil the Grand Prize Winner, awarded at the Final Fly-Off in the fall of 2019. The final Fly-Off will be judged by a team of experts from Boeing and other leading organizations. For more information about The GoFly Prize, or to sign up for the competition, please visit http://www.goflyprize.com . About The GoFly Prize The GoFly Prize is a $2 million, two-year international incentive competition to create a personal flying device that can be safely used by anyone, anywhere. With Boeing as its Grand Sponsor, The GoFly Prize provides teams with expertise, mentorship, prizes and global exposure as they compete to create the world’s first safe, ultra-compact, urban-compatible personal flying device. The multi-phase competition encourages competitors from around the world to participate in making the dream of human flight a reality. For more information, visit http://www.goflyprize.com . About Boeing Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners, defense, space and security systems, and service provider of aftermarket support. As America’s biggest manufacturing exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in more than 150 countries. Boeing products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training. Contact LaunchSquad for GoFly Mike Schroeder 212-564-3665 gofly@launchsquad.com
