The Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME), in collaboration with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), and participants presenting a myriad of ideas for a defence startup ecosystem, met to discuss the sector’s opportunities and challenges here on Monday.
‘Encouraging Defence startups towards development of Military Industrial Complex (MIC) in Telangana’, as it was titled, the seminar saw young enthusiasts and domain experts, industry practitioners and policy makers deliberating innovation.
Spread over four sessions, the seminar discussed opportunities for defence startups in Telangana, avenues an established MIC would offer in the next two decades and the expectations of the industry.
Sharing Telangana’s experience of startups, Principal Secretary for Industry and Commerce Jayesh Ranjan outlined the general shape of the startup ecosystem and how the State government policies encouraged the model.
While Lt. Gen Subrata Saha (Retd), Maj Gen K V Jauhar of Army Design Bureau and Sunil Misra, Director of Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers explained IMC’s opportunities through presentations, officials from Telangana’s T-Hub shared several perspectives around expectations of the rising industry.
Officials from Defence Research and Development Organisation and Directorate General of Quality Assurance also focussed on technology transfer and R&D projects and presented views on encouraging startups in the defence sector.
According to Lt Gen Raj Shukla, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Training Command, the seminar was in tune with achieving the national vision of an ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’.
Lt Gen T S A Narayanan, Commandant MCEME and Colonel Commandant, Corps of EME, said the seminar was able to bring all stakeholders involved in the development of MIC under one umbrella.
“It provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to be aware of the challenges faced by defence start-ups, perspectives, strengths, limitations and the way forward to deal with the issues so as to sow seeds for future collaborative projects,” he said.
Director General of ASCI Dr Nirmalya Bagchi and other officials participated in the programme.
