In the recent years, the government of India has initiated various schemes like Make In India, Startup India, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)4, etc. to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the Indian commercial ecosystem.
This has also made increasingly evident that achieving the goal of self - sufficiency for the Indian military will require a means to incorporate innovation rapidly in the weapons procurement process.
Ministry of Defence aims to create an ecosystem which fosters innovation and encourages technology development in Defence by engaging R&D institutes, academia, industries, start- ups and even individual innovators.
And provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
iDEX will be funded and managed by a ‘Defence Innovation Organization (DIO)’ which has been formed as a ‘not for profit’ company as per Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 for this purpose, by the two founder members i.e. Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) - HAL & BEL. iDEX will function as the executive arm of DIO, carrying out all the required activities while DIO will provide high level policy guidance to iDEX.
Facilitate rapid development of new, indigenized, and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector, to meet needs for these sectors in shorter timelines
Create a culture of engagement with innovative startups, to encourage co-creation for defence and aerospace sectors
Empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sectors.
