Drone Amplified has won the NUtech Ventures Startup Company of the Year award at the Innovator Celebration event in Lincoln, Nebraska, last month.
As a nonprofit affiliate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NUtech commercializes intellectual property developed through Nebraska research activities – with the goal of promoting economic development and improving quality of life.
The company’s drone-mounted technology, IGNIS 2, uses ping-pong sized spheres that ignite prescribed burns and backfires, starving incoming wildfires of potential fuel. It also provides a safer alternative for crews who would otherwise fight wildfires by aircraft or vehicle.
“I think we’re right at the leading edge of this wave of using unmanned systems in firefighting,” co-founder of Drone Amplified Carrick Detweiler said. “We want to protect the lives of people doing very dangerous jobs.”
Drone Amplified has worked with NUtech Ventures, the University’s commercialization affiliate, to patent and license the technology for their startup.
“NUtech was really supportive throughout the process,” Detweiler said. “They helped us layout the milestones and what was needed to be thinking about in the future.”
Stories on Drone Amplified have appeared in more than 35 publications nationwide.