Defence Minister launches Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO)

The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched the Naval Innovation and Indigenization Organization (NIIO) through an online webinar in order to inculcate the virtues of research and development in defence manufacturing in the Indian Navy.

What is NIIO?

It is a three-tiered organization and the Naval Technology Acceleration Council (N-TAC) will bring together the twin aspects of innovation and indigenization and provide the highest level directives. There will be a working group under the ambit of the NIIO that will mainly work on the projects. A Technology Development Acceleration Cell has also been created for induction of emerging disruptive technology in a speedy manner.

This comes on the backdrop of the publication of the Draft Defence Acquisition Policy which has focused on research and development in the country so that the import dependence for the country can be reduced in the coming years.

Indian Navy already has a functional Directorate of Indigenization and the new structures created will work with the existing one only and also on the ongoing projects apart from emphasizing on innovation in the upcoming projects.

SWAVLAMBAN

The Indian Navy has also published an indigenization perspective so that its plans and objectives can be highlighted and also intimated to the public. This is named as ‘SWAVLAMBAN’ and it has been launched during the event of launching the NIIO by the Government of India.

i-DEX Initiative

This is an initiative taken by the government in order to promote innovation and modernization in the defence industry in the country. This initiative is aimed at encouraging innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging industries, including the MSMEs, start-ups and R&D institutes. This i-DEX fund is managed by Defence Innovation Organization (DIO) and it also works as an executive arm of the DIO.

About DIO

Funded primarily by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited, this is registered as a company based in Bengaluru. The maximum corpus was set to be Rs 100 crores and Rs 50 crores each from HAL and BEL. This is aimed at fostering innovation and technology development in defence production in the country.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2020