DRDO Start-up Engagement Policy and Technology Development Fund Enhancement

planned

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is formulating a new start-up policy to facilitate smoother engagement with start-ups and entrepreneurs developing cutting-edge defence technologies. The policy aims to streamline engagement processes and enhance ease of doing business for start-ups working with DRDO. Additionally, the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme has been enhanced with an additional corpus of ₹500 crore to focus on deep-tech and cutting-edge technologies. DRDO laboratory test facilities have been opened to industry with standard operating procedures formulated, and test facilities at 24 DRDO labs have been made accessible via the Defence Testing Portal. The Development-cum-Production Partner model has been implemented to identify manufacturing agencies and transfer technology for production requirements.