Indian Startup IG Drones Wins Prestigious Global Airwards Best Drone Organisation Award

The Delhi-based leading Drone enterprise platform company IG Drones has been felicitated with the “Best Drone Organization – Start-up Category” by Airwards. IG Drones has been selected for the award for its approach of helping local communities and giving access to technology to various stakeholders during natural disasters and calamities.

Airwards is The first panoptic global awards programme of its kind dedicated to identifying, recognising and championing the breadth of positive drone use cases from around the world which are innovative, safe and having a real-world impact.

Over 120 global submissions were judged by 38 drone experts and business leaders to award this year’s 18 Airwards main category winners. Announced during the second-ever Airwards Winners’ Week (23-31 May 2022), the winners have been recognised by Airwards as the pinnacle in innovative, responsible, and impactful projects made possible with drones.

From 2010 to 2019, there were 119 climate and weather events that cost $1 billion or more, causing an average of $80.2 billion in damage per year. The decade before that (2000–2009) saw only 59 billion-dollar events in India, at an average cost of $52 billion.

IG Drones is developing new technology-based disaster response and mitigation to increase the efficiency and efficacy of first responders' aid in emergency response and catastrophe mapping. Using drone and GIS technology, they've saved hundreds of thousands of lives throughout national disasters such as the Assam Floods, Amphan Cyclone, Fani Cyclone, and Jajpur Flood in Odisha, Maharashtra Flood, and Uttarakhand CloudBurst.

IG Drones had developed of a SaaS global platform for unmanned flight has been a godsend to the disaster management community which has helped their stand to ace at People’s Choice Awards by Airwards. The SaaS platform also assists in the interpolation of micro-level high-resolution drone data with low-resolution satellite imagery data, which is a key function. Various stakeholders in the pre- and post-disaster ecosystem, ranging from Disaster Management Authorities to Humanitarian Organizations, Growers, and Banking Institutions, have used the SaaS Platform for the analysed Drone data to help bring all important actors together in an integrated framework. It has named them the top drone consultant in India. According to authorities from IG Drones, they've devised a risk and damage assessment survey process with the help of high brass from numerous stakeholders. India is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The locational and geographical features render it vulnerable to a number of natural hazards such as cyclone drought, floods, earthquakes, fire, landslides and avalanches hence involvement of the UAVs/Drones collect raw data and enable live-streaming of valuable information related to the extent of damage to public and private infrastructures to various stakeholders and key decision makers in real-time, according to the SOP developed by IG Drones, to help make fast-decisions regarding risk mitigation in remote and inaccessible terrains.

With the AI Neural Engine running in the background, a statistical damage and financial loss assessment report with correct figures and markings is generated, assisting financial institutions and government authorities in making informed judgments. The Post-Disaster Needs Evaluation (PDNA) brings together a variety of stakeholders (UN agencies and programmes, the World Bank, funders, and non-governmental organisations) to standardise the assessment, analysis, and prioritising of damages, losses, and needs in support of the national government. Insurance businesses already employ 17% of all commercial drones, and in the next years, more drones will take to the skies. According to PwC, the addressable market for drone-powered solutions is $6.8 billion.

Richard Nichols, Airwards founder, says: “The range of ground-breaking drone work in the last year has astounded us. It hasn't been simple to recover from the pandemic, but I believe the winners all indicate a dedication – by businesses of all levels – to provide lifesaving drone solutions. The judges had a difficult time deciding on the winners, but all of those honoured at this year's Airwards have demonstrated the highest level of inventive, responsible, and influential drone work. We're looking forward to seeing all of these good use cases take off, pushing boundaries and enhancing the world we live in, as well as seeing what the next 12 months have in store!”

IG Drones has offices across 6 locations and has executed 250+ projects across 26+ states in India partnering with multiple State Governments & 30 of the biggest PSU’s & MNC’s in segments like Powerline, Infrastructure, Renewables, Mining, Railway, River Mapping, Agriculture, Industrial, Forest Survey etc. Planning to expand across India and beyond India IG Drones is currently in the process of raising Pre Series A funding.IG Drones is present all over the country starting from the head office at Delhi and branch offices at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bangalore & Bhubaneswar IG Drones has aimed at making self-sustainable & bringing up a revolutionary paradigm shift during the unfortunate times of disaster where the local communities will be the first responders. Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, CEO, IG Drones is quite enthusiastic about building a global drone force who’ll cater the needs of the communities and be the flag-bearer for using the technology to solve various of the problems