This includes the first contract under Mission DefSpace and 100th SPRINT (Navy)

The Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative, led by the Ministry of Defence, has reached a significant milestone with the signing of its 250th contract.

Together with the 100th SPRINT (Navy) contract, the landmark agreement—the first under Mission DefSpace—was also inked. The signing ceremony took place in New Delhi and was attended by senior civil and military officials, including Defense Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

The first contract under Mission DefSpace, aimed at fostering innovation in the defense space sector, was exchanged between Additional Secretary (Defense Production) & CEO of Defense Innovation Organization (DIO) T Natarajan and CEO of InspeCity Arindrajit Chowdhary. The contract was given to InspeCity, one of the Defence Space Agency’s contest winners for 'Micropropulsion System for Cubesats'.

Launching Mission DefSpace at DefExpo in October 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the strategic importance of the space realm. The mission intends to support the development of the commercial space industry in India by tackling 75 defense space challenges with the help of the private sector.

In addition to the Mission DefSpace contract, the signing ceremony also marked the exchange of the 100th SPRINT (Navy) contract. The contract was given to Siliconia Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the winner of the contest aimed at creating a satellite communication system based on a lightweight application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-based communication system.

During the Naval Innovation and Indigenization Organization (NIIO) seminar "Swavlamban" in July 2022, the SPRINT (Navy) initiative was unveiled. Its goal is to integrate at least 75 technologies and products into the Indian Navy by August 2023 as part of the celebrations for the "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav."

The iDEX project has made significant progress after signing its first and fiftieth iDEX SPRINT contracts under DISC-7, respectively, in October 2022 and January 2023. In a short period of time, the 250th contract was signed, demonstrating the dedication and effectiveness of iDEX in promoting innovation in the military industry.

Since its launch in 2018, the iDEX framework has received more than 7,500 applications from individual innovators, MSMEs, and start-ups across various challenge categories such as DISC, Prime, and Open Challenge. iDEX has been instrumental in creating job opportunities and luring smart people back to India, in addition to promoting innovation.

In his address, the Defence Secretary expressed optimism that iDEX will one day make India the world's greatest military innovation ecosystem. He thanked all parties involved for their ongoing efforts and support.