Context: Government is making efforts to promote start-ups in the defence sector under ‘Aatmanirbhar Mission’ to localize the production of defence sector products. 

Background

• One of the first aims of India as a nation since Independence has been to achieve self - reliance in the field of defence and defence production.
• India is the world’s largest defence equipment importer and is expected to spend around USD 220 Billion in the coming decade to modernize its armed forces.
• 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.

Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)

• It was launched by Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence in 2018.
• It is aimed at creation of 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.
• iDEX will be funded and managed by Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO).
• It will function as the executive arm of the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO). 

Additional Information Information

The core objectives of setting up the Defence Innovation Fund are to:

• 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.

About Defence Innovation Organization(DIO) 

• It is a ‘not for profit’ company formed under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 by two Defence Public Sector Undertakings(DPSUs) namely HAL & BEL.The headquarters of the Defence Innovation Organisation is located at Bengaluru.
• It 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 DIO would be funded by two Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).