INDUS-X unveiled, Indian and US startups to boost defence ties, innovations

In a statement, the US Department of Defense said the INDUS-X will vitalise defence industrial cooperation between the two countries and unlock new innovations in technology and manufacturing.

DoD and @India_iDEX launched the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) at @USIBC today to accelerate collaboration and innovation between U.S. and Indian defense ecosystems. https://t.co/v85wEcD9cy

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) June 22, 2023

“INDUS-X will create jobs for working families in both countries and promote global peace, security, and prosperity,” it said.

Post the launch event, the US Department of Defense and the Indian Ministry of Defence welcomed a collaboration agenda outlining initiatives that INDUS-X stakeholders would spearhead.

“These initiatives complement existing government-to-government collaboration and include joint prize challenges for start-ups, roundtable events, mentor-protege initiatives between major primes and startups, and the formation of a Senior Advisory Group,” it said.

The collaboration agenda lists points like mentor-protege partnerships for startups by defence firms of both countries, academic and startup programming partnerships with universities and collaboration of startups with defence majors’ supply chains.

It also mentions possible public-private partnerships, such as innovation, testing, and certification labs and centres for defence startup collaboration, a joint innovation fund for which private investors will be engaged to garner support for investment in defence and dual-use startups, easing regulations for cross-border development and trade as well as standardisation of Indo-US certifications for technology startups.

Both sides also said that INDUS-X will catalyse innovation and help equip both countries’ armed forces with the capabilities they need to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific.

In his keynote address at the event, Frank Kendall, US Secretary of the Air Force, said the India-US relationship is growing exponentially and there is enormous potential for startups of both nations to collaborate in deep tech innovations, especially in the Space and Artificial Intelligence (AI) domains.

Anurag Bajpai, Joint Secretary (Defence Industries Promotion) in the Ministry of Defence, said the launch of iCET was a landmark event in India-US relationship, adding that this was an opportune moment for this event, as the leaders of the two largest and oldest democracies of the world meet in Washington. Bajpai led the Indian delegation at the two-day event on June 20-21.

Stressing on the co-development and co-production of advanced technologies by Indian and the US startups, he asked the participants to develop mechanisms for future collaboration across industries, academia, and investors while also giving an overview of the Make in India initiative of the Modi government.

The event included representatives from more than 30 US and Indian startups, as well as government, business, academic, and thought leaders in wide-ranging discussions to advance cutting-edge technology cooperation between the countries’ defence industrial ecosystems, according to the US DoD statement.

The event was co-organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), Ministry of Defence, Department of Defense and hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC), the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Innovative technologies developed by Indian and US startups were jointly showcased at the event.

Fifteen Indian and 10 US startups, working in the domains of maritime, AI, autonomous systems, and space, showcased their technologies to Indian and US stakeholders.