At the Startup BB Regional Cup Böblingen, the Inferno team was able to prevail against 9 other startups and convincingly presented its business idea to the jury.
Inferno has developed a next-generation firefighting aircraft that is set to replace the ageing fleet of firefighting aircraft around the world from 2028. The special feature of the design is its year-round, effective usability thanks to an interchangeable payload module and the ability to take off and land both vertically and conventionally. As a result, Inferno requires hardly any infrastructure on the ground and can therefore also be used in remote areas. The vertical propellers allow the aircraft to fly very slowly over the fire like a drone and thus drop the water in a more targeted manner. In addition, the slow flight speed close to the fire minimizes the risk of fatal crashes. The highly efficient hybrid-electric drive train ensures a range of over 1000 km. Water can be taken up either when flying over large lakes or oceans or, in the case of small lakes, when hovering over the water. "In times of climate change, forest fires are increasingly becoming a major problem. That is why I am happy to support the Inferno team and hope that the idea will soon be successfully implemented," says Prof. Brem from ENI, which is accompanying the team on its journey.
The team consists of Christian Sautter, Günay Can, Johannes Ritter and Nicolas Mandry. In addition to the prize money, the team has also qualified for the state finals of the Start-up BW Elevator Pitch in Schwäbisch Gmünd in September. "We are delighted with the win and the great interest in our project from all sides. We will invest the prize money in the 1:7 scale demonstrator, which we are already building and on which we will test our key technologies," says Johannes Ritter from Inferno.
Contact
Hanna Dewes
Research Associate