Future tech in focus at Aero India’s startup showcase

About 70 startups working across defence and aerospace domains will display innovations as part of an industry showcase at Aero India 2023. The 14th edition of the biennial event – to be held from February 13 to 17 in Bengaluru – will host them at a pavilion by iDEX (innovations for defence excellence), affiliated with the Defence Innovation Organisation under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

“We are interacting with the startups – that include existing and prospective collaborators – and the registrations are being shortlisted. It is early to discuss numbers but we are expecting close to 70 of them at the iDEX pavilion,” a senior iDEX official told DH.

The MoD initiated the iDEX framework, in 2018, to encourage indigenous innovation in defence and aerospace. The agency, in line with the Union Government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (self-reliant India campaign), provides financial grants, supports startups, MSMEs, R&D institutions, academia, and individual innovators and facilitates the procurement of their products.

Domain range

At Aero India, the startups will showcase prototypes and innovations under four broad themes. Fixed-wing systems, drones and anti-drone technologies (weaponisation and payloads), and defence in the space sector will be some of the themes. Startups that work with AI and robotics, IoT, 5G, blockchain, Industry 4.0, immersive technologies including augmented and virtual reality platforms, and additive manufacturing will display their innovations.

Lt Col Anthony Selva Kumar (Retd), programme director, iDEX, told DH that the agency’s collaborations with startups are important markers in India’s pursuit of atmanirbharta in Defence. “The idea has been to develop a platform to co-create tech solutions locally. From being one of the largest importers of defence products, India is shifting to a phase of indigenisation,” he said.

iDEX handholds the startups to develop these solutions, in partnership with premier institutions including the IITs. It has organised eight editions of the Defence India Startup Challenge where problem statements are presented to the startups for resolution. The iDEX programme director said the scope of the agency’s role has widened during the four years, as reflected in the increase in the number of these problem statements. He said iDEX is providing the startups space at Aero India free of cost.

On the third day of Aero India (February 15), iDEX will also organise Manthan 2023, a defence innovation event that brings together startups, MSMEs, innovators, industry, and military representatives.

As part of the indigenisation push, 68% of the capital procurement budget for Defence in the 2022-23 Union Budget was earmarked for domestic industry, and 25% of the Defence R&D budget was set aside for private industry and startups.