GOFLYPRIZE - $2,000,000 Challenge!!!! Are You The Next Developer of Pure Human Flight? Sponsored by BOEING!

189 days left as of Sept 27th 2017. Go to: https://herox.com/GoFly

Remember when you were a child and wanted to fly? We are going to make that dream a reality. We challenge you to make people to fly. The GoFly Prize is a $2,000,000 challenge to create a personal flying device that is safe, useful, and thrilling.

The goal of the GoFly Prize is to foster the development of safe, quiet, ultra-compact, near-VTOL personal flying devices capable of flying twenty miles while carrying a single person.

What we are seeking is an “everyone” personal flying device, capable of being flown by ANYONE, ANYWHERE. It should be a device for ALL: young and old, city-dweller and country-dweller, expert and novice.

Now is the time. Recent advances in propulsion, energy, light-weight materials, and control and stability systems have combined to produce a moment of achievable innovation. What can be accomplished today could not have been attained even a few years ago. Technological and scientific advances have resulted in a time when our most audacious dream—the dream of pure human flight—is now achievable.

GoFly is about flying people, not flying taxis. Today we look to the sky and say “that plane is flying.” We challenge you to create a device where we look to the sky and say, “that person is flying.” The device is for a single person, but what it looks like or how it works is up to you. We welcome revolutionary design, and while all devices must be able to fly a person, you have the option to use a mannequin to simulate the user and can operate the device as a remotely piloted or autonomous UAV. The device should function safely in both crowded cities and rural areas; it should be lightweight and maneuverable enough so that anyone can move it around, and it should be quiet not only for the user, but also for the general public. We are propulsion agnostic, but like all great inventions, the device should be user-friendly--almost an extension of the user’s body, and provide the thrill of flight.

The GoFly Prize is designed to capture our imagination. Indeed, throughout human history, perhaps no dream has been more shared than that of soaring in the skies. It has been pursued by the greatest minds from every corner of the world. It captivated the thoughts of Leonardo Da Vinci, culminating in his ornithopter.  It consumed the thoughts of Wendell Moore and his Bell Labs team, resulting in the first “jet pack.” It charmed an entire generation of children as they followed the chronicles of Superman.

Our goal is the same as Da Vinci’s and children of wonder throughout the ages: Make people fly – safely and effortlessly.

Ready… set… GoFly.

 

PRIZE PURSE

The GoFly Prize Competition will award $2,000,000 in prizes over three phases, culminating in a Final Fly Off in the Autumn of 2019.

Prizes will be awarded for each phase of the Competition as follows:

Phase I                   

• Up to ten $20,000 prizes awarded based on a written report.

Phase II                  

• Up to four $50,000 prizes awarded based on revised Phase I material (or for new teams new Phase I material) and demonstrated performance of progress to date.

Phase III          

• One $1,000,000 Grand Prize awarded for the best overall fly-off score.
• One $250,000 prize for the quietest compliant entry.
• One $250,000 prize for the smallest compliant entry.
• One $100,000 prize awarded for disruptive advancement of the state of the art.

 

A complete set of Technical Rules can be found here. 

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Teams will keep all of their intellectual property, except that teams will grant limited media rights to GoFly so that GoFly can publicize and promote the Competition and the teams. The details of this media rights agreement are in the Phase I Competition Agreement. Other than these media rights, any rights a team has in its inventions, drawings, patents, designs, copyrights and other intellectual property remain with the team.   

The information that Teams provide to GoFly as part of the Competition will only be shared with the Judging Panel and representatives of GoFly who are involved in administering the Competition. Anyone who has access to a team’s confidential information will have signed a confidentiality agreement and agreed not to share or use such confidential information, except as may be required by law. In addition, teams will not have access to any nonpublic information about other Teams or their technology or performance during the Competition.

 

INNOVATION INCUBATOR

Even the best and brightest minds can use a little help sometimes. GoFly empowers innovator teams by providing access to experienced Mentors and Masters in design, engineering, finance, law, and marketing. In fact, every month (and sometimes twice a month), Teams will have the opportunity to listen to and engage in discussions with the Masters of Aerospace and Business in global webinars. Have a couple of questions on conceptual design or configuration management? Looking for insight into cutting edge noise mitigation techniques? Trying to raise funding to support your build?   Masters lectures speak to those disciplines and more.  Learn from DARPA chiefs, NASA gurus, Boeing Senior Technical Fellows, and the luminaries who actually wrote the textbooks. Hear about the aerospace fundraising landscape, and take a deep dive into financing decks and pitching VCs. Learn how to protect your intellectual property from patent specialists. A list of Masters along with their bios can be found in the Advisors section.

When one-on-one help is needed, all Teams will have access to our Mentor program, where Teams work directly with Mentors in their specific areas of need. Operationally, the Mentor program is organized so that Teams contact GoFly to request a Mentor within a particular discipline. Upon contact, that Team will be matched with a Mentor (or multiple mentors) in that area. During these Mentor sessions, a Team works directly with the Mentor to answer the Team’s specific questions related to their technical build (or financing, or corporate documents, etc.). This is one-on-one support for the Teams, geared to the precise needs of each Team.  GoFly believes that providing this type of support is the best way to help aspiring inventors all over the world create the kind of ground-breaking devices that the Competition seeks.

 

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

GoFly believes that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere. Scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs, and other innovators with new ideas from all over the world are invited to form a Team and register to compete. To participate, a Team may organize their own members, recruit additional experts to join them, and can add new members at any time throughout the Competition. 

To be eligible to participate in the GoFly Prize, teams must complete all registration and administration forms, including a short bio for each team member, certain legal documents, and be accepted by GoFly into the competition.

For more information, see “Eligibility” below.

 

TIMELINE AND DELIVERABLES

The GoFly Prize Competition is a two-year Competition launched on September 26, 2017. There will be three sequential rounds of the Competition.

Phase I           

• Submission of a written report and preliminary drawing

Phase II                  

• Submission of an updated written report and demonstration of progress in development of the personal flying device

Phase III                 

• Final Fly Off competition

A list of important dates is set forth below:

Description                                     Date

Competition Launch and Open of Registration        September 26, 2017

Phase I Registration deadline                      April 4, 2018

Phase I submission deadline                      April 18, 2018

Phase I awards issued                            May 29, 2018 

Phase II registration deadline                      December 8, 2018

Phase II submission deadline                      February 6, 2019

Phase II awards and Phase III fly-off invitation issued  March 28, 2019

Phase III - Flight readiness review                  September 2019 [TBD]

Final Fly-off                                    October 2019 [TBD]

 

Dates and other information are subject to change at the discretion of GoFly. GoFly will post changes on the Competition website to ensure that all registered teams are informed of any change. All submissions must be submitted electronically through the GoFly Competition website.

 

REGISTRATION AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS

To compete in the GoFly Prize, the participant must be a registered Team that has been approved by GoFly.

PHASE I:

Innovators can compete in Phase I both as Individual Innovators and in groups. To begin the registration process for Phase 1 (the Paper Report phase of the Competition) and be accepted to participate you must:

1. Sign the Phase I Competition Agreement
2. Sign the Release of Liability and Indemnification Agreement

All forms can be found here, and all may be accepted and submitted online.  

Submission of the documents will enable access to the Phase I submission form for competing. There is no registration fee, but upon submission of a Team’s Phase I competition entry, there will be a fee of $250 for Individual Innovators or a fee of $500 for Teams with two or more persons.

 

PHASE II:

There is a big difference between designing on paper and actual building/flying, so the documents involved for those phases of the GoFly Prize differ as well.  In order to proceed from Phase I (the paper, technical specifications phase of the competition) into the actual building (Phase II and III of the Competition), ALL Teams must submit an additional application, and be accepted as a Phase II Team by GoFly. Under no circumstances should any off-paper work or building take place before a Team is admitted into Phase II of the GoFly Prize.  Should any work be done off-paper before being accepted into Phase II in contravention of the foregoing, such work is done entirely outside the scope of the GoFly Prize.

 The Phase II and III Application forms will be available in December 2017. Each Phase II and III Team is required to complete the package of legal documents which will govern the Competition, including the following:

• Master Team Agreement (similar to the Phase I Competition Agreement with updates)
• Certificate of Insurance (required by the Master Team Agreement)
• Updated Team Release of Liability and Indemnification Agreement
• Updated Team Member Release of Liability and Indemnification Agreement
• Media Rights Agreement
• Incubator Equity Agreement
• For Grand Prize Winner Only: Boeing Warrant Agreement

Of note, Phase II and III Teams must participate as corporate entities. GoFly will help any Phase I team wishing to continue into Phase II with corporate formation.

FOR ALL PHASES OF THE COMPETITION:

Teams must sign all Legal Documents and comply with all requirements therein to be admitted to the Competition. Once GoFly determines that a Team has complied with all requirements of the Legal Documents and these Competition Guidelines, it will notify the Team that it is approved for entry into the Competition.

Team shall designate a Team Member to act as “Team Leader”. The Team Leader will be responsible for communicating with GoFly and the Judging Panel. The Team Leader (and all Team members) must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence, if such age is older than 18 years). Team may replace the designated Team Leader at any time through the Team Portal.

As part of the Registration Form, each Team must list each individual that is part of the Team, and such list shall include all individuals or entities involved in the design, development, or testing of the Submission (“Team Members”). All Team Members must register at the Competition website and sign the Phase I Competition Agreement. Team may add and/or remove Team Members at any time through the Team Portal. Team has sole responsibility for adding and removing Team Members. 

Teams may revise registration information at any time and are responsible for keeping information up to date.  New teams who have not participated in Phase I are still eligible to participate in Phase II by completing registration by the Phase II registration deadline. Existing teams from Phase I must register their intent to participate in Phase II by the Phase II registration deadline.

As part of this Competition, GOFLY may receive some of Team’s and Team Members’ personal information. The collection, use, and disclosure of this information will be governed by GOFLY’s Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy includes several ways to contact GOFLY with questions. By submitting such information, Team agrees that (i) GOFLY may use the personal information collected as described in the Privacy Policy and (ii) GOFLY may disclose such Team’s and Team Members’ contact information and Competition registration information to Boeing. Team expressly authorizes Boeing to contact Team if Boeing so desires. Teams have the right to access, withdraw, and correct their personal information. 

 

ELIGIBILITY

Individual Innovators: The Competition is open to individual Innovators who (a) are at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in his/her jurisdiction of residence if it is older than 18), (b) comply fully with all terms and conditions of the Phase I Competition Agreement, and (c) are able to participate without violation of any third-party rights or obligations, including without limitation an employer’s policies or procedures.

Exclusions: Individual Innovators may not be (a) a Boeing employee or a member of any Boeing employee’s immediate family, (b) located in a jurisdiction where participation in the Competition is prohibited or otherwise restricted by law (or an individual with a residence in or who is a national of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea or Sudan) or (c) subject to export controls or sanctions of the U.S.

Business Entities:  The Competition is open to business entities that wish to compete as a team and (a) are validly formed and in existence under applicable law, (b) comply fully with all terms and conditions of the Phase I Competition Agreement, and (c) are able to participate without violation of any third-party rights or obligations.   

Exclusions: Entity Innovators must not have any presence in Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea or Sudan or be subject to export controls or sanctions of the United States.

Beginning at Phase II of the Competition, to be eligible to participate in the Competition, Team must be a validly existing legal entity (e.g. corporation, LLC, etc.) that is duly organized and in good standing in its jurisdiction of organization.  For those Teams who enter Phase I of the competition without being a legal entity, GoFly will provide guidance in incorporation.

Each Team’s compliance with these requirements and eligibility for the Competition will be determined by GoFly in its sole discretion. Only Teams meeting all of the eligibility requirements set forth in the Phase I Competition Agreement as determined by GoFly will be recognized as a participant in the Competition. 

Each Team must obey all local, national, and international laws in undertaking any activities related to the Competition. Team must fully comply with all applicable laws and acquire all necessary licenses, waivers, and/or permits from the applicable regulatory bodies or other applicable third parties. GoFly is not required to advise Team regarding such legal and regulatory compliance, and GoFly shall have no responsibility for Team’s compliance with laws applicable to Team and hereby disclaims any responsibility for advising on the applicability of laws or regulations applicable to a Team’s participation in the Competition or Team’s compliance therewith. GoFly’s acceptance of Team into the Competition does not constitute approval of Team’s compliance with laws applicable to Team.

 

TEAM SUBMISSIONS

For each Phase of the Competition, Teams will be required to submit the materials and writings described in these Guidelines (“Submissions”). All Submissions must comply with the following requirements:

• Except for purchased or licensed content, any Submission must be original work of Team;
• Submission must include only content (including any technical information, algorithms, designs, music, audio, visual or illustrative content, including logos, images, graphics, art, or other content, information, or materials protected any intellectual property right) that Team owns or has proper rights to use;
• Team is required to disclose any purchased or licensed content that is part of a Submission.
• Submissions must not contain any incomplete, corrupt, damaged, or malicious material;
• Submissions must not contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, copyright, trade secret, patent, trademark, publicity or any intellectual property rights;
• Submissions must not disparage GoFly or any Competition Sponsor;
• Submissions must not contain material that is inappropriate, offensive, indecent, obscene, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous and must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age; and
• Submissions must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of, or contrary to laws or regulations.

 

JUDGING PANEL

INDEPENDENT JUDGING PANEL

No Judge, nor any member of Judge’s immediate family, shall participate in any team. All members of the Judging Panel will promptly disclose to GoFly any such current, former, or expected future conflict of interest with GoFly, Boeing and/or any team or team member.

ROLE OF THE JUDGING PANEL

The duties and responsibilities of the Judging Panel will include, but not be limited to: (i) evaluating teams’ compliance with the Competitors Agreement, these Competition Guidelines, and the Rules and Regulations for the purposes of the Competition; and (ii) the awarding of points and selection of teams that will receive prizes for each phase of the Competition.

GROUNDS FOR JUDGING PANEL DECISIONS

Official decisions made by the Judging Panel will be approved by a majority of the Judges that vote on each such decision after careful consideration of the testing protocols, procedures, guidelines, rules, regulations, criteria, results, and scores set forth in the Master Team Agreement and these Competition Guidelines. If any vote of the Judges results in a tie, then the Judging Panel shall determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, the mechanism to settle the tie. Similarly, if one or more teams are tied at any stage during the competition, the Judging Panel shall have the sole and absolute discretion to settle the tie. 

DECISIONS OF THE JUDGING PANEL ARE FINAL

The Judging Panel shall have sole and absolute discretion: (i) to allocate duties among the Judges; (ii) to determine the degree of accuracy and error rate that is acceptable to the Judging Panel for all competition calculations, measurements, and results, where not specified in the Rules and Regulations; (iii) to determine the methodology used by the Judging Panel to render its decisions; (iv) to declare the winners of the competition; and (v) to award the prize purses and other awards. Decisions of the Judging Panel shall be binding on teams and each team member. Teams agree not to dispute any decision or ruling of the Judging Panel, including decisions regarding the degree of accuracy or error rate of any competition calculations, measurements, and results. Teams shall have no right to observe other teams’ testing or evaluation, or to be informed of other teams’ calculations, measurements, and results, unless such information is made publicly available by GoFly. 

 

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE AND CURRENCY

The official language of the Competition is English. All communications with GoFly must be in English. All references to currency are expressed in United States Dollars (USD).

View legal agreement