One of the largest drone manufacturers in Ukraine, TAF Drones (capacity — 25,000 units per month), has announced the creation of a new Defense Tech cluster of the Innovation Hub.
Its goal is to minimize the time between the development of promising technologies «from garages and trenches» and their implementation at the front.
TAF Drones estimates that there are several thousand promising developments that, unfortunately, do not receive sufficient funding to bring them to life.
The TAF Drones Innovation Hub aims to solve this problem by using not only venture capital investments but also more flexible financing methods. Funds will be invested directly in promising technologies and talented teams without startup experience.
Advantages of the program
This approach will enable more technically oriented teams, even those without business or management experience, to implement their ideas and contribute to the development of defense technologies.
Unlike other defense clusters, the TAF Drones Innovation Hub is distinguished by its approach to investment. Typically, defense clusters distribute grants to a wide range of projects to support the development of the defense technology industry, while the Innovation Hub focuses on directly funding specific technologies and ideas, regardless of the commercial stage of development.
Thus, the Innovation Hub will invest directly in innovations and inventors, providing resources for a rapid transition from concept to production and use on the front line.
At the same time, compared to classical venture capital funds that focus on increasing the profitability of companies, Innovation Hub will use the resources and expertise of one of the largest manufacturers of FPV drones, TAF Drones, specifically to work with innovations, making it a suitable partner for «garage» inventions that might never reach a truly finished stage and start mass production.
Features of the Defense Tech cluster Innovation Hub
- Fast implementation: TAF Drones has the experience and resources to quickly transfer promising developments into mass production and supply to the front line.
- Access to production facilities: Inventors get access to TAF Drones’ production facilities to test and refine their technologies.
- Support for the research base: TAF Drones has a team of experienced R&D specialists who can help with the development and improvement of new technologies.
First of all, in Innovation Hub are looking for technologies that add value to FPV drones Certain areas that are currently a priority:
- EW-resistant radio modules for FPV drones;
- Target acquisition systems;
- Localization of FPV components production;
- Development of EW and anti-EW technologies.
How to apply
TAF Drones is calling on anyone developing innovative defense technologies to apply for the website.