Background of Innovation for Defense Excellence (iDEX)

1. Since Independence, India's primary goal has been to achieve self-reliance in the field of defence and defence production.
2. India is currently the world's largest importer of defence equipment and is expected to spend approximately USD 220 Billion in the next decade to modernize its armed forces.
3. The Government of India has launched several initiatives such as Make In India, Startup India, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), etc., to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the Indian commercial ecosystem. These initiatives indicate that achieving self-sufficiency for the Indian military requires a robust mechanism to incorporate innovation rapidly into the weapons procurement process.
4. The Ministry of Defence aims to create an ecosystem that fosters innovation and encourages technology development in Defence by engaging Research & Development institutes, academia, industries, start-ups, and even individual innovators.
5. National Defence cannot afford to lag behind the country's potential adversaries in capabilities. Hence, a special effort is required to engage smaller enterprises, start-ups, MSMEs, R&D institutes, and innovators, to encourage the development of innovative technologies for the defence sector, as they have the flexibility and adaptability to supply the Indian military with innovative and ingenious technological solutions.

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Overview of Innovation for Defense Excellence

1. The iDEX initiative was launched by the Government of India in April 2018 with the aim of modernizing Defence Technology.
2. iDEX aims to create an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes & academia.
3. iDEX provides grants, funding, and other support to the engaged industries to carry out Research & Development.
4. The Defence Innovation Organization (DIO) funds and manages iDEX. The DIO was formed as a ‘not for profit’ company as per Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013. It was founded by two Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) – HAL & BEL, which are Navratna companies. You can check out the list of Navratna Companies in India on the given link.
5. iDEX serves as the executive arm of DIO, performing all the necessary activities while DIO provides high-level policy guidance to iDEX.
6. The DIO and its iDEX team will enable the creation of channels for innovators to engage and interact with the Indian defence production industry.

The main functions of the DIO include:

• Receiving periodic reports from the iDEX team on the projects.
• Providing high-level policy guidance regarding the effort's direction and execution.

You can also read about HAL – Partnering with Russia for Make in India Defense Project on the given link.

Objectives of DIO- iDEX

The primary objectives of establishing the Defence Innovation Fund are:

1. To Facilitate the rapid development of new, indigenized, and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector to meet the sector's needs within shorter timelines.
2. To Create a culture of engagement with innovative start-ups, encouraging co-creation for defence and aerospace sectors.
3. To Empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sectors.
4. To establish ‘corporate Venture Capital’ models for the needs of defence and aerospace sectors, thereby identifying emerging technologies, connecting innovators with military units, facilitating co-creation of new and appropriate technologies, and so forth into weapon systems used by Indian Armed Services.
5. To deliver military-grade products by developing or applying advanced technologies to solve the critical needs of the sector.

Functions of Innovation for Defense Excellence

The adoption of innovation requires the execution of three critical functions, namely:

1. Co-Innovation and co-creation – Discovering and exploring existing technologies, or developing relevant technologies.
2. Piloting of candidate technologies in significant platforms, with rapid feedback to the innovators.
3. Indigenization of various defence and aerospace-related platforms being manufactured in the country based on ToT.

The iDEX structure will need to perform all these three functions, in partnership with other competent stakeholders.

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How does iDEX Function?

1. iDEX-DIO launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) to address the problems faced by the Armed Forces, DPSUs & OFB.
2. Start-ups or individual innovators are invited to provide solutions to these problems. After a thorough evaluation of the applications, the winners receive innovation grants in technological areas through the prototype funding guidelines called Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK).
3. This entails the provision of grants up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 crore to the Start-ups on the basis of milestones through multiple tranches, for prototype development.

Main Activities of iDEX

To execute the functions mentioned above, the iDEX team undertakes the following activities:

1. Setting up and managing the iDEX network in the form of Independent Defence Innovation Hubs.
2. Communicating with innovators and start-ups through the Defence Innovation Hubs regarding defence and aerospace needs.
3. Organizing various challenges and hackathons to shortlist potential technologies for defence and aerospace use.
4. Evaluating technologies and products coming from innovators and start-ups in terms of their utility and impact on the Indian defence and aerospace setup.
5. Enabling and funding pilots, using innovation funds dedicated to the purpose.
6. Interfacing with the military top brass about key innovative technologies and encouraging their adoption into the defence establishment with suitable assistance.
7. Facilitating scale-up, indigenization, and integration in manufacturing facilities for successfully piloted technologies.

Composition of iDEX

The iDEX team is composed of the following members:

1. Tech experts – The iDEX creates a roster of experts in core areas and engages them as per the requirement of Defence Innovation Hubs.
2. Tech deployment experts – These are individuals who understand the dynamics of integrating technology into complex institutions and environments. They include system integrators, user interface experts, design experts, etc.
3. Innovation stakeholders – Co-creation and adoption of innovation is now an advanced discipline and requires specialized skills. Experts with these skills are an integral part of the team, to be able to successfully connect tech. innovators and users in the armed forces.

While iDEX leads the overall effort to create an innovation ecosystem in the country, each Defence Innovation Hub functions as an independent financially viable unit with the help of assistance provided by DIO under the guidance of iDEX. Through the network of Defence Innovation Hubs throughout the country, iDEX underpins an ecosystem of defence tech. and innovation stakeholders.

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