Preliminary Round of 2026 Presidential Drone Competition Held in Chiayi, Testing Operations and Non-Red Supply Chains

The preliminary stage of the 2026 Presidential Drone Competition organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs was held at the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in Chiayi, bringing together 112 teams from the public sector, enterprises, academia, and individuals. The competition featured tasks in block stacking, obstacle avoidance, and precision dropping to test payload transport, flight safety, and positioning accuracy for inspection, logistics, and disaster relief operations. Non-red supply chain compliance was integrated into the event requirements. Teams were required to submit hardware and software bills of materials alongside declarations, followed by on-site verification to ensure drone components matched submitted documents. The top six teams from each category will qualify for the finals at the International Convention Center Tainan on December 25.

Key takeaways

• The preliminary round in Chiayi brought together 112 teams to test flight control and payload stability across block stacking, obstacle avoidance, and precision dropping tasks.
• Non-red supply chain rules mandated submissions of hardware and software BOMs, verified against actual components on site.
• The Ministry noted drone expansion into inspection and rescue fields; top six teams per task advance to the December finals in Tainan.