Science & Technology
Def Connect 2019
- 12 Nov 2019
- 3 min read
The Ministry of Defence had organised the inaugural session of ‘Def Connect 2019’ to showcase the accomplishments of the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative in New Delhi.
- iDEX portal and Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC)-III was also launched.
Innovation for Defence Ecosystem (iDEX)
- iDEX, launched in 2018, is an ecosystem to foster innovation & technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging innovators & entrepreneurs to deliver technologically advanced solutions for modernizing Indian Military.
- Core Objectives:
- Indigenization: Rapid development of new, indigenized and innovative technology.
- Innovation: Creates a culture of engagement with innovative startups to encourage co-creation.
- It provides funding/grants to MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovator, R&D institutes and academia to carry out research and development.
- iDEX is funded and managed by “Defence Innovation Organisation”.
- iDEX portal was launched to provide wider publicity and better visibility of iDEX activities and enable more efficient running of future challenges through better information management.
Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO)
- DIO is a not for profit organisation formed under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.
- It is funded by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
- It provides high level policy guidance to iDEX.
Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC)
- DISC aimed at supporting Startups/MSMEs/Innovators to create prototypes and/or commercialize products/solutions in the area of National Defence and Security.
- It has been launched by the Ministry of Defence in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission.
- The vision of the DISC is two-fold:
- Prototyping: Help create functional prototypes of products/technologies relevant for national security, and spur fast-moving innovation in Indian defence sector.
- Commercialization: Help new tech products/technologies find a market and early customer in the form of the Indian Defence Establishment.
- Under DISC-III, three challenges from the ARMY, Navy and Air Force were thrown open to prospective start-ups.
- Under the program, the start-ups, Indian companies and individual innovators (includes research & academic institutions) can participate.
