Sunday, May 12, 2024
Sunday, May 12, 2024
At the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem Advisory Group meeting in early September, the first two INDUS-X challenges were announced, with the second one launching today, focusing on addressing issues related to underwater communication.
The second challenge, called the iDEX Underwater Communication Challenge, aims to find new hardware and software technologies with the ability to support high-bandwidth underwater communication and will provide the winner with $150,000.
The first challenge, the iDEX Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance and Recognizance Challenge, intends to identify tracking and oil spill detection technologies, also with a total award amount of $150,000.
Both challenges are open to U.S.-owned and operated startups at the early-mid stage or are considered non-traditional until Nov. 10, according to the Defense Innovation Unit.
The first virtual meeting of the INDUS-X Senior Advisory Group between the Defense Department and the Indian Ministry of Defense was held on Sept. 5.
DIU Director Doug Beck, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for South and Southeast Asia Lindsey Ford and Anurag Bajpai, joint secretary of the Indian Minister of Defence, co-chaired the meeting with participants discussing the current initiatives to supply both countries' militaries with capacities to “defend a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The group did not limit where initiatives can come from, opening the discussion up to non-governmental stakeholders.
On Aug. 25, Hacking4Allies and IIT Hyderabad held a program to commercialize, recruit talent and expand for 50 Indian start-ups. A few days later, on Aug. 29, Pennsylvania State University and IIT Kanpur held a virtual meeting of U.S. and Indian academics, government officials and industry officials to talk about emerging technologies in new domains, like AI, space and cyber, according to DIU.
The group also reported their intent to generate defense capital through private investment for stronger innovation and integration support between the two countries’ defense sectors.
DIU and iDEX aligned the topics of the two challenges with the Roadmap for U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation so that startups in both countries can create shared defense technologies, with the opportunity for procurement to the most promising solutions, according to DIU.