Government gives filip to startups in defence sector

New Delhi. 21 September 2020. Government is making efforts to promote start-ups in the defence sector under ‘Aatmanirbhar Mission’ to localize the production of defence sector products. The details are as under:

• Innovations for Defence Excellence (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.  58 iDEX winners have so far been identified for 18 problem statements/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. Number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry including start-ups/individual etc. have been introduced in this procedure.

Government has proposed to set up innovative centres in institutions and organizations in the country. The details is as follows:

• DRDO has created eight Advanced technology centres across India to carryout 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.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog has set up a total of 68 Incubation centres across the country.  Some AIM incubators focus on areas closely associated with deep-tech, aerospace etc.  CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre is a specific incubator which focuses on Defence Innovations and start-ups.
• iDEX envisages to engage with existing Defence Innovation Hubs (defence related MSME clusters) and create new hubs where innovators can get information about needs and feedback from the services directly and create solutions for India’s major defence platforms.  9 Institutions have been identified and are working as partner incubators to support activities under iDEX.