On Tuesday, iDEX signed its 100th contract in New Delhi with a firm called Pacify Medical Technologies Pvt Ltd.
The defence ministry signed the 100th contract for defence innovation on Tuesday under a framework called “iDEX” that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) is the flagship initiative of the Department of Defence Production and it was rolled out to encourage start-ups and other such entities engaged in defence innovation.
The objective of the initiative is that it would provide the platform for co-creation and co-development in the Defence sector, and would engage start-ups to contribute to the defence sector and develop defence and aerospace setup in the country. iDEX is being implemented by the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), established under Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
The 100th contract was signed by Additional Secretary (Defence Production) and CEO, DIO Sanjay Jaju with CEO of Pacify Medical Technologies Pvt Ltd Saiprasad Poyarekar. The occasion was graced by Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen BS Raju.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ajay Kumar said, “We are confident that iDEX will make India the biggest Defence Innovation Ecosystem in the world. For this, I would like to thank the tireless and continuous efforts and support from all the stakeholders, including the Services, the start-ups, partner incubators and the iDEX team.”
Till date, iDEX has launched iDEX Prime, seven rounds of DISC (including DISC SPRINT) and five rounds of OC, receiving more than 4,000 applications from individual innovators, MSMEs and start-ups. More than Rs 250 crore worth of projects have been allocated and procurement of 14 items worth over Rs 400 crore have been cleared. iDEX has also been able to generate thousands of jobs and attract India’s talent back to the country.
