Wingcopter wins at NTT DATA Open Innovation Contest

Wingcopter has been awarded the Sustainable Development Goals Spotlight prize at this year’s Open Innovation Contest of the global business and IT solutions provider NTT DATA. The category was open to companies that use innovative technology to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Wingcopter was able to convince the jury of NTT DATA employees and external experts with its approach to transport life-saving medical products such as medicines, vaccines, blood reserves or laboratory samples quickly, safely and efficiently by drone to remote areas. The start-up has proven in various projects around the world that it can drastically reduce waiting times for patients - sometimes from several hours or even days to just a few minutes – and save lives through drone-based deliveries.

Wingcopter is also working on solutions to make life easier for people in industrialized countries (parcel service/food deliveries) and to optimize supply chains. Earlier this month, for example, Wingcopter was able to fly laboratory samples for the first time from a plant of the science and technology company Merck in Gernsheim to the company's headquarters in Darmstadt - over a distance of 25 kilometers in a metropolitan region.

"We are very pleased about the award from NTT DATA. At the award ceremony in Tokyo, we were able to show not only what we are already doing in the field of humanitarian aid, but also what we are capable of doing in the commercial sector. The Japanese market is extremely exciting for Wingcopter because the country is very open to new technologies and, particularly in the field of drone technology, does not want to miss its market opportunity. NTT DATA can be a valuable door opener for us in Japan, but also beyond," said Tom Plümmer, Co-Founder and CEO of Wingcopter.

More than 400 companies from around the world applied for the OIC 2019 with their innovative ideas. In December, Wingcopter prevailed over the competition in the regional preliminary round for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in Munich.