Defence Ministry approves INR 500 Crore Corpus for MSMEs, Startups and Incubators via iDEX-DIO

The Defence Ministry has announced a support corpus of approximately INR 500 Crores for nearly 300 startups, MSMEs, individual innovators and 20 incubators under the partner network of DIO. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the budget of Rs 498.8 crore to iDEX-DIO for the next five years.

“The scheme aims to facilitate rapid development of new, indigenised and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector to meet their needs in shorter timelines; create a culture of engagement with innovative startups to encourage co-creation for defence and aerospace; empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sector and boost innovation among the startups and encourage them to be a part of the ecosystem,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It will support increased awareness in the Indian innovation ecosystem about defence needs. Conversely, in the Indian Defence establishment, it will increase awareness about the potential of the Indian innovation ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions to meet their needs. Further, the DIO, with its team, will enable the creation of channels for innovators to engage and interact with the Indian Defence production industry. The long-term effect includes the establishment of culture for frequent innovations for the Indian military, the statement read.

The DDP will release funds to DIO for setting up and managing the iDEX network in the form of Partner Incubators (PIs); communicating with innovators, startups, technology centres of MSMEs through the PIs including the PIs of the Department of Science and Technology regarding defence and aerospace needs; organising various challenges/hackathons to shortlist potential technologies and entities and evaluating technologies and products developed by innovators/start-ups in terms of their utility and impact on the defence and aerospace setup.

The other activities include enabling and funding pilots using innovation funds dedicated to the purpose; interfacing with the Armed Forces top brass about key innovative technologies and encouraging their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance; facilitating scale-up, indigenisation and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies and organising outreach activities all across the country.

DDP will also organise different challenges and hackathons to shortlist potential technologies and entities and evaluate technologies and products developed by innovators, and startups in terms of their utility and impact on the defence and aerospace setup. Other activities under the programme would include interfacing with the armed forces top brass about key innovative technologies and encouraging their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance. It will also include indigenisation, and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies and organising outreach activities across India.