Indian Navy To Demonstrate Futuristic Tech Developed By Startups And MSMEs At 'Swavlamban' Seminar Next Week

The Indian Navy will showcase hundreds of homegrown futuristic technologies developed in the last year in its updated indigenization roadmap at the Swavlamban 2.0 seminar next week.

The seminar is scheduled to be held from October 4 to 5 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, and is expected to be attended by officials from more than 50 friendly foreign countries.

The second edition of the Swavlamban seminar will showcase various homegrown technologies developed by Indian startups and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh, the Indian Vice Chief of Naval Staff, told reporters that the Navy has exceeded its target set last year to develop 75 futuristic technologies in partnership with domestic MSMEs and startups. These technologies will be unveiled at the second edition of the Swavlamban seminar and exhibition.

Singh was referring to the target set by the Navy to develop 75 new futuristic technologies by MSMEs in one year, under the 'Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through Innovation for Defence Excellence' (SPRINT) and 'Innovations For Defence Excellence' (iDEX) initiative, along with the 'Technology Development Acceleration Cell' (TDAC) initiated under the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) in July last year.

"Today, I can confidently say that the Swavlamban initiative has gained critical mass and is gathering continuous momentum," Singh stated, adding that "the promise, made in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, has been fulfilled," referring to the commitment to develop 75 new technologies in the next one year.

The Navy received thousands of proposals from startups and MSMEs in response to the SPRINT challenges. "A total of 118 firms, all MSMEs, were declared winners," he said, noting that close to 100 new firms have now entered the defense ecosystem for the first time.

Moreover, the Navy has not only accelerated development but also procurement of these new technologies.

Last week, (on September 18), HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) approved the acceptance of necessity (AoN) for procurement of ten newly developed technologies worth Rs 1,220 crore.

The Vice Chief stated, “We have already obtained acceptance of necessity (AoN) for 12 such cases, worth close to Rs 1,500 crore, and procurement orders for products worth Rs 200 crore amongst these have already been signed."

"In the coming weeks, we are looking to conclude many more such contracts,” he added.

One such innovation is the procurement of a firefighting bot developed by Swadeshi Empresa Pvt Limited under the iDEX scheme.

Fifty of these firefighting bots are already deployed on INS Vikrant aircraft carrier, having received AoN almost five months ago (on 19 April), worth Rs 225.6 crore.