Govt approves Defence Innovation Fund for Academia-MSMEs to carryout innovation

New Delhi, July 22 (KNN) In a bid to encourage innovation in the sector, the Government recently announced a scheme of Defence Innovation Fund (DIF). This fund can be availed by different stakeholders including the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Minster of State for Defence Dr.Subash Bhamre informed Lok Sabha.

The main objective of the scheme is to provide the deserving stakeholder with grant and funding to facilitate innovation the field of defence. This innovation once developed, it can be further extended to the commercial market

Under the DIF scheme, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will be acting as the funding agency for the project. HAL and BEL shall be raising a maximum corpus of 100 crores.  In the initial phase, HAL and BEL will extend 5 crores each. Later the public and private sector enterprises that are non for profit can get involved in case they are willing to promote the fund innovation program in the sector.

For the implementation of the project, Defence Innovation Organization (DIO) is being established at Bengaluru.

Stakeholders including R&D institutes, academia, and industry including MSMEs, start-ups and even individual innovators can apply for the fund. (KNN/ DA)