Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approves Rs 498 crore to boost indigenous defence innovation

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In a major boost to self-reliance in the Defence sector, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has allocated Rs 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) – Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), which works with the prime objective of self-reliance and indigenisation in defence & aerospace sector of India.

The budgetary support is aimed at providing financial support to more than 300 start-ups/MSMEs/individual innovators along with 20 partner incubators under the DIO framework over the course of next five years. Further, the scheme will facilitate swift development of new, innovative and indigenous technologies for the defence and aerospace sector of India to meet their needs in a quick timeline.

Notably, DIO teams will create a channel for innovators to interact and engage with the Indian Defence production industry to enable a culture of engagement with innovative start-ups. The long-term effect is the establishment of a culture, where enlisting the effort of innovators by the Indian military is commonplace and frequent.

Further, it would empower a culture of technology, co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sector of the country to boost innovation among the start-ups and encourage them to be a part of this ecosystem.

iDex and DIO for Aatmanirbhar Defence innovation

The creation of the iDEX framework and establishment of the DIO by the Department of Defence Production (DDP) aims to create an ecosystem to foster innovation and encourage technology development in Defence by engaging R&D institutes, academia, startups, and even individual innovators to conduct research which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs. The framework also provides them grants/funding and other support to carry out research related to the sector.

Coming on the funding mechanism, DDP releases funds to DIO for setting up and managing the iDEX network in the form of Partner Incubators (PIs) to execute various functions:

– Setting up and managing of the iDEX network in the form of Independent Defence Innovation Hubs

– Communicating with innovators and startups through the Defence Innovation Hubs regarding defence and aerospace needs

– Organizing various challenges/hackathons to bring forward potential technologies for defence and aerospace use

– Facilitating indigenization and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies

– Evaluating technologies and products made by the innovators/startups in terms of their performance, utility and impact on the Indian defence and aerospace setup

– Interacting with the military (Army/Navy/Airforce) top brass about key innovative technologies and encourage their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance