New Delhi: Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh felicitated the winners of ‘Dare to Dream 2.0’ Contest of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) here on Monday, October 04.
The Raksha Mantri gave away awards to 40 winners — 22 in Individual category and 18 in start-up category. He also launched ‘Dare to Dream 3.0’ to promote innovators & start-ups and provide a platform for the young ignited minds in the country, according to a PIB release.
Dare to Dream is DRDO’s pan-India contest to promote Indian academicians, individuals and start-ups to develop emerging defence and aerospace technologies/systems. DRDO provides technical and financial support to the winners for realisation of their ideas under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme.
Singh also gave away DRDO Young Scientists awards for the year 2019. Sixteen DRDO scientists, under the age of 35 years, were awarded for their outstanding contribution in areas of their expertise.
Congratulating the winners of ‘Dare to Dream’ and ‘DRDO Young Scientists’ awards, the defence minister said, they reflect the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of the youth of the country to create something new. He exuded confidence that the winners in the fields of innovation, design & development will inspire young minds and create path-breaking innovation in future. The ‘Dare to Dream’ challenge, he said, represents the vision and mission of the Government as also the mandate of DRDO.
Cautioning against working in silos and laying special emphasis on identifying cost and time over-run projects and delivering them efficiently in a time-bound manner, the Raksha Mantri called for strengthening the linkages between academia, Industries and DRDO. This collaboration, he said, would ensure overall development.
On this occasion, three products/systems indigenously developed by DRDO were also handed over to the Armed Forces. These are:
—ARINC818 Video Processing and Switching Module: The module, developed for the Indian Air Force, was handed over to the Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sandeep Singh. It is a state-of-the-art module with high bandwidth, low latency, channel bonding, easy networking and will cater to 5th generation aircraft development programmes.
—Sonar Performance Modelling System: Developed for the Indian Navy, the system was handed over to Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Satish Namdeo Ghormade. It is useful for Indian Naval ships, submarines and under water surveillance stations etc.
—Bund Blasting Device Mk-II: The device, developed for Indian Army, was handed over to the Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen CP Mohanty. It is used to reduce the height of Ditch-cum-Bund obstacles to enhance the mobility of mechanised infantry during wartime.