A high-level team of officials from the Department of Defence Production will soon visit Kochi’s Maker Village, India’s largest electronic hardware incubator, which may pave the way for Kerala’s start-ups to enter the defence ecosystem, according to Ajay Kumar, Union Secretary of Defence Production.
During his discussions with Maker Village chief executive officer Prasad Balakrishnan Nair, Dr. Kumar promised he would open the doors for start-ups to defence production.
Dr Kumar interacted with Mr. Prasad on the sidelines of Hardtech 2019, a National Deeptech Startup Conclave organised by Maker Village at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery on April 5 and 6. “Start-ups are going to be an important part of our defence ecosystem. Users like the Army and Air Force want them to identify problems and seek ways to resolve them,” he said.
“I want start-ups from Maker Village to feature in the list of the next edition of the Defence India Startup Challenge.” Overall, the event featured 50 speakers including senior government officials, leaders from global technology firms, entrepreneurs and academicians.
Hardtech 2019 also showcased live products by matured start-ups from metros including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad with cutting-edge technologies. The event also featured a technology expo displaying products of technology firms, service providers, vendors and products from SMEs and MSMEs from the technology space.
Purchase order
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has initiated a purchase order of Advanced Spray Coater developed by Delgado Coating and Technology Solutions, incubated at Maker Village here.
The purchase order was handed over by Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production, to Delgado CEO R. Sree Kumar on Saturday.
This Advanced Spray Coater can slash the production cost by 30% compared to the present technology used by other countries.