The Indian ministry of defence and the US Department of Defence participated in the first investor strategy session of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) in New Delhi on November 8 as a precursor to the ‘2+2 Indo-US Ministerial Dialogue’.

During the event, the INDUS-X Educational Series (Gurukul) was launched. 

India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X)

• The US Department of Defence and the Indian ministry of defence launched the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) to expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between our governments, businesses, and academic institutions. 

• It was launched in June 2023 during the visit of PM Narendra Modi to the US.

• This initiative builds on a commitment by the US and Indian national security advisers in January 2023 to launch an “innovation bridge” to connect US and Indian defence startups as part of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).

• India’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and the Office of the Secretary of Defence (OSD) are leading INDUS-X activities.

• Closer cooperation between private sectors and research institutions will catalyse innovation within defence industrial bases. 

• Through INDUS-X, both sides will strengthen ties between our defence industrial ecosystems to make them more innovative, accessible, and resilient.

What is the purpose of iDEX?

• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) is a scheme formulated in collaboration with Startup India and Atal Innovation Mission, with the objective of bringing startups to innovate, develop technology and solve problems related to defence and aerospace. 

• It was launched on April 12, 2018. 

• It aims to create an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D. It is expected that India can take advantage of its vibrant startup ecosystem to develop technologies related to defence and aerospace. 

• The government has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for domestic procurement through iDEX for financial year 2021-2022 and approved a budget of Rs 498.8 crore for the next five years to support over 300 startups and foster innovation in defence & aerospace sectors.

• Under the iDEX scheme, Defence India Startup Challenges (DISCs) are organised.

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