As a result of the government's special efforts on 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 given for these. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh gave this information on Monday. According to PTI news, he also said that 'acceptance of need' and 'request for proposal' worth more than Rs 2,380 crore have been issued for 37 products. Launched in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, iDEX provides an integrated platform for various stakeholders in the defense and aerospace sectors, which will contribute to the vision of developed India by the year 2047.

19 challenges of agencies included

According to the news, the Defense Minister launched the second edition of the 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 includes 19 challenges of the armed forces and allied agencies in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum technology, military communications, customized anti-drone systems and adaptive camouflage for military platforms, etc. The scheme provides grants of up to Rs 25 crore to iDEX winners, focusing on critical technological areas to strengthen the country's defense ecosystem.

Grants up to Rs 1.5 crore given

In a statement, the Defence Ministry said that DISC 12 presents 41 challenges across key technology domains, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), AI, networking and communications, with grants of up to Rs 1.5 crore. Specifically, it launches the Medical Innovation and Research Advancement (MIRA) initiative, which includes nine challenges aimed at promoting the development of medical technologies to meet the medical demands of the armed forces.

A call to move beyond copycat technology

To provide impetus to the iDEX initiative, DISC was launched in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission to support start-ups, MSMEs, innovators to prototype and/or commercialise products or solutions in the area of ​​national defence and security. Raksha Mantri called upon the private sector to move beyond replicating technology to meet the future needs of the Armed Forces. Enumerating the milestones achieved due to the Government’s efforts to promote innovation, Raksha Mantri said that iDEX has received over 9,000 applications so far and is currently collaborating with over 450 start-ups and MSMEs through DISC and Open Challenges.