The Beginning of an Epidemic
- In April/May 2020, the directorate of TDF that implements the scheme took charge with a new director and staff. At that stage, the TDF scheme was still relatively unknown in the MSME and startup ecosystem and only granted grants to 6 companies to develop technology under the scheme.
- The Invest India team first took charge of operations by occupying the TDF Scheme website (accessible at https://tdf.drdo.gov.in/technology-grid), a one-stop shop for accessing the scheme. The team quickly realized that the website needed a complete overhaul to support the enhanced vision of the scheme. It required a robust technical architecture as well as improved user-friendly design and security aspects. Further, there was an urgent need to undertake further feasibility analysis for technologies required by the armed forces and to improve the throughput of the scheme including possible routing to specific industries to be developed in less than 2 years. To enable this, the team began designing programs to enhance project management as well as project visibility within the ecosystem.
- A major challenge for the management of the scheme was the pandemic which necessitated the virtual handling of various aspects of the scheme, which was previously done in physical form. Moreover, recruiting and training the team was another challenge, as in no time, the entire team was physically assembled together. The team met the challenge by establishing and implementing processes that increased the efficiency of the plan. Several team members visited DRDO several times a week to push files and approvals required for operations. Largely due to the team's hard work and resourcefulness, Invest India was able to deliver more than what was envisioned in the MoU.
Deep Stakeholder Engagement
- It was also quickly realized that the armed forces (Army, Air Force and Navy) and the various DRDO laboratories needed guidance on the processes and procedures of the scheme, especially as the 'end users' produced the technical requirements taken by them. The Scheme A workshop was organized with Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and DRDO laboratories to harmonize the expectations of all stakeholders.
Improvement of Technology System
- The team worked with technology vendor Empaneled to redesign and develop a new website for the project. It includes all the features of the exiting portal as well as an upgraded backend that will allow detailed tracking of all projects from inception to delivery. Additionally, it has a user-centric design with tutorials and guides for various components of the plan. The new portal also integrates Invest India's query management system to streamline support requests from multiple channels such as the TDF website, emails and calls. The entire system has been primed and tested and is awaiting final pre-launch approvals from DRDO.
Dare to Dream
- In addition to implementing the scheme, Invest India helped manage the second edition of the Dare to Dream Innovation Contest, a scheme to promote participation of individuals and startups in the aerospace and defense industry. The TDF Desk organized the competition in collaboration with the AGNIi Mission which saw around 1800 applicants, of which 50 were selected to present to the Independent Expert Committee (IEC). IEC has recommended the winners to DRDO, but the final award is yet to be announced. Invest India earlier helped run the first edition of the competition in 2019-20.
- Recognizing the enthusiasm of startups to actively participate in India's defense industry, DRDO decided to create a dedicated line of funding for new startups (DPIIT register startups and less than 3 years in the defense sector) under the TDF scheme. The team helped design the sub-plan and is actively working to operationalize it.
- There was a positive development in broad stakeholder engagement across the wide portfolio of projects undertaken by the scheme, which saw an increase of over 150% over the previous year. Similarly, over 1500 new entities have been registered on the TDF website and many have participated in various open projects. To provide technical support to Invest India, the team recruited specialized experts from the Armed Forces, DRDO laboratories, academic institutions and industry. They bring with them critical domain expertise, financial and IPR expertise.
- Most importantly, 19 new project development grants were awarded during the year, taking the scheme to 25 with a total disbursement of around INR 142 crore.
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