While speaking at the inaugural session of ‘Def Connect 2019’, showcasing accomplishments of Innovations for Defence Excellence, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh emphasised on the importance of ‘Ideation, Innovation and Incubation’ in cutting edge-technologies to achieve the goal of indigenisation and self-reliance in defence sector. Expressing confidence on India emerging as a net innovator and net exporter of defence technologies, he said “Our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target of USD 5 trillion economy by 2024. Looking at the talent India possesses; I am pretty confident that we can become USD 10 trillion economy in the next 10-15 years.” Raksha Mantri also launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) – III under which three challenges from the Army, Navy and Air Force were thrown open to prospective startups. An iDEX Open Challenge was also launched to provide an opportunity to innovators to come up with their technologies that may be adopted to the country’s defence requirements. Raksha Mantri gave cheques of around Rs 1.5 crore each to two startups, i.e., North Street Cooling Towers Private Limited and Chipspirit Technologies Private Limited for building on their innovative ideas.
