The Ministry of Defence (MoD) organised the conference ‘Def-Connect’ in New Delhi on November 11, 2019 to showcase the accomplishments of the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative and growth of the defence ecosystem in the country. The iDEX portal and Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC)-III was also launched. It is an ecosystem to foster innovation & technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging innovators & entrepreneurs to deliver technologically advanced solutions for modernizing Indian Military. The iDEX is funded and managed by “Defence Innovation Organisation”.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2019
Defence Innovation Organisation:
The Government has approved a Scheme of Defence Innovation Fund (DIF), aimed at creating an eco-system to foster innovation and technology development in defence by engaging R&D institutes, academia, industry including MSMEs, start-ups and even individual innovators and provide them award based grant/ funding to carry out innovative development, which has good potential for future commercialization. The Scheme is proposed to be implemented through a ‘not for profit’ company under section 8 of the Companies Act, namely Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO). DIO has been registered with Bengaluru as its headquarter. The DIO would be funded by two Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
Defence India Start up Challenge:
DISC aimed at supporting Startups/MSMEs/Innovators to create prototypes and/or commercialize products/solutions in the area of National Defence and Security. It has been launched by the Ministry of Defence in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission. Under DISC-III, three challenges from the ARMY, Navy and Air Force were thrown open to prospective start-ups. Under the program, the start-ups, Indian companies and individual innovators (includes research & academic institutions) can participate.