In a move aimed at taking modern cutting
edge technology to the commercial sector,
the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) and Federation of Indian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) today launched
a programme whereby under a public private
partnership (PPP) scheme, DRDO products
would be marketed by Ficci.
The programme is a joint venture of Ficci-DRDO
called "Accelerated Technology Assessment
and Commercialisation of Defence Technologies
for Industrial and Civilian Spin-offs."
“While DRDO continues to develop cutting
edge technologies for the Indian armed forces,
it would also actively spin out the relevant
technology for non-military application.
The DRDO has the relevant technology but
the question is to see how these can be
used for making products for large-scale
markets,” said Mr M Natarajan, scientific
advisor to the Defence minister.
Of the 50 DRDO laboratories, 26 are taking
part in this initiative and 200 technologies
have been assessed so far for marketing.