DRDO creates eight tech centres
NITI Aayog has set up 68 Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) incubation centres across the country, some of which are focus on areas closely associated with deep-tech, aerospace among others, Shripad Naik, Minister of State for Defence said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 19 Sept 2020.
The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre is a specific incubator on Defence Innovations and start-ups.
It is part of the Government’s proposal to set up innovation centres in institutions and organizations in the country.
As part of these centres, the DRDO has created eight Advanced technology centres across India to carry out research activities in the identified futuristic/new technology areas.
These technology centres provide support to Academia to carry out directed research in the identified thrust areas related to defence applications.
Among others, the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) engages existing Defence Innovation Hubs (defence-related MSME clusters) and creates new hubs where innovators can get information about needs and feedback from the services directly.
This information helps create solutions for India’s major defence platforms.
Nine Institutions have been identified and are working as partner incubators to support activities under iDEX, said Naik.
The Minister gave an update on the Government’s efforts to promote start-ups in the defence sector under ‘Aatmanirbhar Mission’ to localize the production of defence sector products.
He pointed out that the iDEX framework was launched by Department of Defence Production with the aim to achieve self-reliance and to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace Sectors by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia.
Under iDEX, the projects or problem statements are identified based on the requirements projected by the Armed Forces, OFB & DPSUs.
Fifty-eight iDEX winners have so far been identified for 18 problem statements and challenges under three rounds of Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC).
Separate procedure for ‘Make-II’ category (Industry funded) has been notified under Defence Procurement Procedure to encourage indigenous development and manufacture of defence equipment.
The number of industry-friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry, including start-ups and individual, has been introduced in this procedure, said Naik. #startups #innovations #fintech #technologies #aerospace #manufacturing /fiinews.com
