Rs 1,200 crore earmarked to aid academic research in defence, says DRDO Chairman
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chairman Dr G Satheesh Reddy said on Sunday that there is a vast scope for the youth to work on research and innovation in the defence sector as more than 300 higher education institutes are working with DRDO and it has earmarked a fund close to Rs 1,200 crore for academic research in defence.
“There is a vast scope for youngsters to work on innovative products in defence sector. Universities are fundamental for the development of technology. DRDO has been working with about 300 academic institutions for academic research programmes and 1,200 scholars are associated with defence research across these institutions. Nearly Rs 1,200 crore has been allocated to support these institutions, Gujarat University being one of them,” Reddy stated in his virtual address Sunday at the DRDO Townhall,
The event was held on the second day of the Ahmedabad Design Week (ADW) 3.0, organised by Karnavati University at Uvarsad in Gandhinagar.
The ‘DRDO GU Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Centre for Cyber security Research (SVP-CCR)’ funded by DRDO with Rs 100 crore is planned to be set up as a centre of excellence at Gujarat University to conduct multidisciplinary scientific and applied research in critical and futuristic technologies related to defence and security.
During his address, Reddy, who is also the secretary, Department of Defence R&D, Government of India emphasised on the need to be self-reliant in the defence sector.
Other sessions by senior officials from the defence and design sector marked the second day of ADW 3.0 including DRDO officials, defence personnel and industry icons .
Lieutenant General BS Jaswal (retired) discussed the paradigm shift in defence production and provided insight on futuristic threat analysis and global defence expenditure. “To improve our capacity and capabilities, we need Atmanirbhar Bharat. We are on our way to achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.
Rear Admiral Rahul Kumar Shrawat (retired), chairman and managing director, Naval Group India, said, “There is a great scope for modern technologies like artificial intelligence and cyber security in the Indian Navy. India has become self-reliant on shipbuilding.”
Ad-maker Prahlad Kakar talked about the role of design in ad-making at the event.
“The most important aspect in design is to add value, create value as an independent thinker and add value through design,” he said.
