As a result of the special efforts of the government in the defense sector in India, 26 products have been developed under the Innovation for Defense Excellence (iDEX) initiative. Purchase orders worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been placed for these. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh gave this information last Monday. He also said that 'approval of requirement' and 'request for proposal' have been issued for 37 products worth more than Rs 2,380 crore, PTI reported. Launched in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, iDEX provides an integrated platform for various stakeholders in the defense and aerospace sectors to contribute to the vision of a developed India by 2047.
19 challenges of agencies included
According to the news, the Defense Minister launched the second edition of Development of Innovative Technology with iDEX (ADITI 2.0) challenges and the 12th edition of Defense India Start-up Challenges (DISC 12). ADITI 2.0 comprises 19 challenges for the armed forces and allied agencies in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum technology, military communications, customized anti-drone systems for military platforms and adaptive camouflage etc. The scheme provides grants of up to Rs 25 crore to iDEX winners focusing on critical technology areas to strengthen the defense ecosystem of the country.
Grant up to Rs 1.5 crore given
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that DISC 12 presents 41 challenges across key technology domains, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), AI, networking and communications, for which grants of up to Rs 1.5 crore have been provided. In particular, it launches the Medical Innovation and Research Advancement (MIRA) initiative, which consists of nine challenges aimed at promoting the development of medical technologies to meet the medical demands of the armed forces.
A call to move forward from copycat technology
To accelerate the iDEX initiative, DISC was launched in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission to support start-ups, MSMEs to prototype and/or commercialize products or solutions in the area of national defense and security. , aims to support innovators. The Defense Minister called upon the private sector to move forward with replicable technology to meet the future needs of the armed forces. Enumerating the achievements made due to the Government's efforts to promote innovation, the Defense Minister said that iDEX has received over 9,000 applications so far and is currently hosting over 450 start-ups through DISC and Open Challenge. And cooperating with MSME.
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