Union Defence minister approved an amount of nearly Rs 500 crore to boost research and innovation in the defence sector.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021
The Central government approved a budgetary support of Rs 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) – Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) for the next five years.
This is part of a scheme to promote innovations after the creation of the iDEX framework and establishment of the DIO by the Department of Defence Production (DDP).
The scheme is aimed at providing financial support to nearly 300 start-ups, individual innovators, micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and 20 partner incubators under the DIO framework.
It is aimed at creating an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging industries, including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia.
The scheme is also aimed at providing them grants or funding and other support to carry out R&D development which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
The scheme 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.
