Rajnath Singh approves Rs 498.8 Cr support for defence innovation; nearly 300 MSMEs, startups to get a boost
The budgetary support will provide a big boost to the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ and is aimed at providing financial support to nearly 300 startups/MSMEs.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the budgetary support of Rs 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) - Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) for the next five years.
As iDEX–DIO's primary objective is self-reliance and indigenisation in the defence and aerospace sector of the country, this will further boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
The creation of the iDEX framework and establishment of the DIO by the Department of Defence Production (DDP) is aimed at creating an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes, and academia, and provide them with grants and funding and other support to carry out R&D development, which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
The scheme aims to provide financial support to nearly 300 startups, MSMEs, individual innovators, and 20 partner incubators under the DIO framework.
It will support increased awareness in the Indian innovation ecosystem about defence needs and conversely, in the Indian defence establishment about the potential of the Indian innovation ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions to meet their needs.
The DIO, with its team, will enable the creation of channels for innovators to engage and interact with the Indian defence production industry.
The scheme aims to facilitate rapid development of new, indigenised, and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector to meet their needs in shorter timelines; create a culture of engagement with innovative startups to encourage co-creation for defence and aerospace; empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sector and boost innovation among the startups and encourage them to be a part of the ecosystem.
The DDP will release funds to DIO for setting up and managing the iDEX network in the form of Partner Incubators (PIs); communicating with innovators/startups/technology centres of MSMEs through the PIs including the PIs of the Department of Science and Technology regarding defence and aerospace needs; organising various challenges/hackathons to shortlist potential technologies and entities and evaluating technologies and products developed by innovators/start-ups in terms of their utility and impact on the defence and aerospace setup.
The other activities include enabling and funding pilots using innovation funds dedicated to the purpose; interfacing with the Armed Forces top brass about key innovative technologies and encouraging their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance; facilitating scale-up, indigenisation and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies and organising outreach activities all across the country.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta
