India-US Defence Summit: Enhancing Innovation at Stanford

Washington, Aug 31 (PTI) The third edition of the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) Summit will be held at the Stanford University in California early next month, during which top defence leaderships from the two countries would brainstorm on enhancing cross-border defence innovation ecosystems.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are among the key leaders to address the summit to be hosted by US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) along with Stanford University's Gordian Knot Centre for National Security Innovation and the Hoover Institution on September 9 and September 10.

The INDUS-X summit will bring together top policymakers from Washington and New Delhi to strengthen advanced technology partnerships in defense innovation, a media release said. The Summit will link Indian and American leaders in defence innovation from startups, venture capital, academia, accelerators, and industry, with opportunities for co-production and investments in both nations, it said.

The 3rd INDUS X Summit is themed around "harnessing investment opportunities to enhance cross-border defence innovation ecosystems" and will spotlight the role of private capital/investments in the defence innovation sector.

INDUS-X was launched in June 2023 to expand the strategic technology partnership and defence industrial cooperation between Indian and the US governments, businesses, accelerators/incubators, investors, and academia.

Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and the Defence Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Office of the Secretary of Defence (OSD) lead INDUS-X for the Indian Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defence (DoD), respectively.

Launched ahead of the historic state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, the first edition was held in Washington DC on June 21 last year. The event saw a first-of-its-kind joint showcasing of innovative technologies by Indian and US start-ups. As many as 15 Indian start-ups and 10 US start-ups from multiple domains of maritime, AI, autonomous systems, and space, showcased their technologies to the stakeholders.

The exhibition was visited by senior US officials, including Congressman Ro Khanna, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems (CITI) and as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, and by Radha Iyengar Plumb, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment, US DoD.

According to USISPF, the state-of-the-art INDUS-X Tech Expo will showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovations from defence and aerospace startups and companies, in an event, that will draw venture capital firms, academics, accelerators, and tech professionals from the Bay Area.