Gandhinagar (Gujarat): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today asked innovators and startups to come up with new ideas to modernise the Armed forces through research and innovation.
Inaugurating an event here, he said a large number of startups and innovators are venturing into the defence sector.
“In the last 7-8 years, there has been a change in the consciousness of the nation, with greater focus on solutions and goals,” Singh said.
“Earlier, it was difficult for the youth to contribute in various fields, but initiatives such as iDEX have empowered our young entrepreneurs and given them wings to fly,” he added.
Singh said iDEX is a popular initiative of the Ministry of Defence and has encouraged other ministries to adopt innovative schemes.
Calling iDEX ‘innovation for innovation’, he emphasised that it has encouraged the entrepreneurial potential of the country.
Elaborating further, the Defence Minister said iDEX creates direct and indirect employment opportunities and is useful for both job seekers and job creators.
He highlighted that since the inception of iDEX, over 6,000 applications have been received in the last seven editions of Defence India Start-up Challenge and Open Challenge.
He also shed light on iDEX Prime which was launched to provide Grant-in-Aid support worth up to Rs 10 crore.
On the growth of iDEX, the minister said the platform now has a presence in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and is connecting with incubators across India.
He exuded confidence that iDEX will show the way forward for innovation in untouched areas and help in all-round development of the defence sector.
