DRDO "Dare to Dream 2.0": What to expect for season 2?

DRDO's "Dare to Dream 2.0" is an open challenge to promote the country's innovators and startups. The winners will be decided after due evaluation by the expert committee. A cash award of up to 10 lakh for Startups and 5 lakh for individuals will be given to winners. Further, on the 5th death anniversary of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Defence Min Rajnath Singh announced the Dare to Dream Contest.

We know that the theme of this challenge is innovation in the defence and aerospace technologies. The theme “Ignited Minds” is a tribute to the 5th Death Anniversary of former prez Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. But what do you expect for the challenge?

Here's a list of 5 such experiences that we took from "Dare to Dream" Season 1, that you will face when you participate.

1. Last year, the areas of the contest were Artificial Intelligence, Soldier as a System, Autonomous, Cybersecurity, Quantum computing etc. The objective of the contest was:

"To unearth disruptive ideas and concepts in emerging technologies identified by DRDO for enhancing defence capabilities."

This year, since it along the same lines, adding Aerospace to the objective, we can imagine the extent will be more or less same. DRDO expects you to bring multi-faceted products that will change how defence in India works.

2. Due to PM Modi's vision of "Atmanirbhar Bharat", this year, there could be the chance that the winning participants will get to develop their product with DRDO. Also, the equipment might get marketing tips from DRDO.

3. The "Dare to Dream" project for last year saw the application span of almost 2 months. From Jan 10 to March 31, the competition saw the submissions of over 3000 startups and individuals. Last year, the prizes were the same as this year. This year, too, winners will get 10 lakhs for the startup. Further, individual winners will get 5 lakhs.

4. The background of the "Dare to Dream" Project states that "Having fleshed out your dreams, you need to embrace discovery, explore your domain, create your dream team, bootstrap your dream, and ‘date’ or dabble with your dreams. Thus, it is most likely that you will have to pitch in your product. You will have to send a 200 plus words summary about you and your innovation.

5. Last year, the entries went through a two-stage process. First, it was screened by the Domain Expert Committee. Then, they were short-listed and ranked by Independent Expert Committee. Hopefully, this year, too, it will follow the same process.

The last year's problem statements were:

• Multi-Legged Mobility

• Plan Execution And Coordination In Multi-Agent System

• Deep Learning Methods For Cybersecurity

• Swarm Of Micro-UAVs

• Joints In Composites Structures

• Miniaturization Of Unfolding Mechanisms For Rocket Lifting Surfaces

• Wearable Communication Technologies For Special Operations Soldier

• Hemostatic Agents

• Artificial Oxygen Carriers

• Swarm Robot For Surveillance & Ops. In Hostile Environment

• Cognitive Sensors And Technologies For Border/Perimeter Surveillance

• Open Category: Exploring The Unthinkable And Unimaginable

So, this year problem statements ought to be something along the lines too.

Follow this page to know the details of the contest.