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With Indus-X launch, India, US take a leap on defence innovation
As an Indus-X event kicked off in Washington, the Pentagon said that the two sides will create bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
As a part of the vision to build a defence innovation bridge, the United States (US) department of defense (DOD) and India’s ministry of defence (MOD) have launched the India-United States Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (Indus-X) to “expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation” between governments, businesses, and academic institutions and unveiled an ambitious agenda of cooperation. (CLICK HERE: PM Modi US Visit Live Updates)
In a statement on Wednesday, as an Indus-X event kicked off in Washington at the US-India Business Council, the Pentagon said that the two sides will create bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including a senior advisory group that will assess the progress in collaboration and make recommendations on easing regulatory regimes on both sides.
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HT had reported on the rationale and possible outcomes from Indus-X last week. The idea of the defence innovation bridge is a part of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies unveiled by the national security advisers, Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan in January. The Pentagon statement said, “Through INDUS-X, we will strengthen ties between our defense industrial ecosystems to make them more innovative, accessible, and resilient.”
American and Indian commercial and academic stakeholders are also working to establish a mentor-protege partnerships for startups, an accelerator programme for defence start-ups, an academic and start-up programming partnerships with universities and accelerators, and ways to enhance collaboration of startups with the supply chains of major defence companies.
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In addition, the Pentagon statement said, both DOD and MOD, along with external stakeholders, will explore joint challenges for US and Indian startups that leverage “common dual-use cases for both countries”.
Both ministries also intend to explore pathways for start-ups to access each other’s respective research and development centres and innovation labs. A group of private stakeholders will engage investors to set up a joint innovation fund, while both governments too will explore a public-private partnership model for funding deep tech defence start-ups.
Both MOD and DOD also intend to explore “standardizing certification for technologies” developed by the defence innovation ecosystems of both countries to accelerate their absorption. The Pentagon’s statement says the area of focus here will include “Quality Assurance (QA) parameters, certification standards, and program success memoranda”.
