Lok Sabha Question No. 1491 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-28
Subject: Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Pocha Brahmananda Reddy, Chinta Anuradha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1491

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28 th  July, 2021

## INNOVATIONS FOR DEFENCE EXCELLENCE (iDEX)

## 1491. SHRI POCHA BRAHMANANDA REDDY: SHRIMATI CHINTA ANURADHA:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has recently approved a budgetary support of around Rs 500 crore over the next five years to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) - Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO);
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether this approved budget aims to provide financial support to start-ups, MSMEs, individual innovators and other partner incubators under the DIO framework;
- (d) if so, the details of any norms or guidelines that have been prescribed to select such partner organisations; and
- (e) whether the Department of Defence Production (DDP) will release funds to DIO for setting up and managing the iDEX network and if so, the details thereof?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

- (a) to (e):  A statement is attached.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK SABHA  UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1491  FOR  ANSWER  ON  28.07.2021 REGARDING 'INNOVATIONS FOR DEFENCE EXCELLENCE (iDEX)'.

- (a)    to  (c):    Yes,  Sir.  The  Department  of  Defence  Production,  Ministry  of  Defence  has approved a central  sector  scheme  viz.  Innovations  for  Defence  Excellence  (iDEX)with budgetary support of Rs. 498.80 crore for the next 5 years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial support to nearly 300 Startups/ MSMEs/ individual  innovators  and  about  20  Partner  incubators  through  Defence  Innovation Organisation (DIO).
- (d)  i.  To avail the grants under the grant mechanism of iDEX i.e. Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK), the eligibility is as follows:
-  Startups,  as  defined  and  recognized  by  Department  of  Industrial  Policy Promotion (DIPP), now DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
-  Any  Indian  company  incorporated  under  the  Companies  Act  1956/2013, primarily a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as defined in the MSME Act, 2006.
-  Individual  innovators  are  also  encouraged  to  apply  (research  &  academic institutions can use this category to apply).
- ii. To avail the grants as iDEX Partner Incubators, the eligibility is as follows:
-  The applicant incubator should be registered in India as a legal entity in public, private or public-private partnership mode, and should have received establishment or grant support from a Ministry/Department of Government of India in the past.
-  The incubator must have been in operation for a minimum of 3 years before application  for  affiliation  with  DIO,  and  experience  of  having  supported  at least 25 startups.
-  It should have successfully graduated at least 5 startups in the past 3 years.
-  It  should  have  at  least  25  mentors  for  startups  affiliated  with  it,  at  least  5  of them should be relevant to defence or aerospace domain.
-  Experience of having run sector-focused accelerator programs in at least two sectors, with investable startups having come out of each of them.

## : 2 :

-  Experience of having partnered with academia and research sector.
-  Extensive  corporate,  investor,  academic,  vendor,  mentor  and  government relationships to support start-ups.

(e) The said scheme formulated by Department of Defence Production (DDP) envisages to fund DIO to take up the following activities:

- i. Setting  up  and  managing  the  iDEX  network  in  the  form  of  Partner Incubators.
- ii.      Communicating  with  innovators/start-ups/technology  centres  of  MSMEs through the Partner Incubators (PIs).
- iii. Organizing various challenges/ hackathons to shortlist potential technologies and entities for defence and aerospace use.
- iv. Interfacing with the Services about key  innovative technologies  and encouraging  their  adoption  into  the  defence  establishment  with  suitable assistance.

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