DRDO affirms that India does not want to be a technology follower, rather a technology leader

87% by value of the largest order of Akash Missile backed by BDL valued at 25,000 – 30,000 crores originate from the private industries stated Dr. G. Sateesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO. He was speaking on Opportunities in the defence sector, a panel discussion organized as part of the ongoing TiE Global Summit 2020. JA Chowdary Chairman, India Blockchain Standards Committee & General Partner, Succeed Innovations Fund moderated the discussion. The panellists include Dr. G. Sateesh Reddy, Secretary, Dept of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO and Vish Sahasranamam. Forge Forward – Incubator for Defense Tech. About 2000 tier – I and tier – II industries are now working with DRDO he added. The Government of India has listed 101 defence items that are not to be imported, rather be designed and developed by the industry in India. Thereby creating vast opportunities for the industry to participate in the defence space he informed. The government and its defence organisations have devoted themselves to smoothening the regulatory and administerial processes to make the industry partnership with the defence sector a seamless experience he informed. Dr. Sateesh was delighted to inform the audience that more than 1500+ patents along with, testing facilities and R&D capabilities of DRDO have been made available for all the participating Indian organisations to help them in their partnership with the government in the defence sector. Dr. Sateesh strongly affirmed that India does not want to be a technology follower anymore, rather become a technology leader. With the participation of the industry in the defence sector, Dr. Sateesh envisions the industry to lead the research and development in the sector while DRDO would concentrate on futuristic technology. – Under the Government of India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat, the government envisions and facilities mean to see India design, develop, test, supply (within India) and export in the domain of defence Dr.Sateesh said. Participating in the discussion, Vish Sahasranamam, CEO & Co-Founder, FORGE Accelerator said Initiatives like iDEX by the GOI have successfully helped connect the military users (army, navy and air force) to collaborate and co-create with industry innovators he expressed. He added that the forum iDEXalso grants funds ranging 1.5 crores to innovators to produce prototypes, facilitates access to testing and advanced field-testing trials as well. He also informed the audience that the defence sector would also help the innovators retain the IP with them. Vish informed the entrepreneur audience that iDEX would be a great launchpad for innovators to translate their vision and fulfil the needs of the country. He suggested that innovators can become a part of iDEX platform through dedicated and open innovation challenges that are frequently listed on the iDEX website. He mentioned that 29 innovation challenges put forth by the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force to which they have received 1200+ responses from start-ups as solutions.