Aatmanirbhar Bharat! Defence Ministry allocates Rs 500 cr for designing indigenised and innovative products
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New Delhi, June 14: The Ministry of Defence announced an allocation of Rs 498.8 crore, over the next five years, for its indigenisation scheme: “Innovations for Defence Excellence” (iDEX). The budgetary support will provide a big boost to the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as iDEX–DIO has the primary objective of self-reliance and indigenisation in the defence & aerospace sector of the country.
The iDEX initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2018, with the aim of fostering innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace. This is achieved by engaging and funding micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), start-ups, individual innovators, research and development (R&D) institutes and academia.
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"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 start-ups 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 start-ups and encourage them to be a part of the ecosystem,” stated the Ministry.
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It is aimed at providing financial support under the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) framework to nearly 300 start-ups/MSMEs/individual innovators and 20 partner incubators. It will support increased awareness in the Indian innovation ecosystem about defence needs and, conversely, in the Indian Defence establishment about the potential of the Indian innovation eco-system to deliver innovative solutions to meet their needs.