Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has established a DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA CoE) on its campus for interdisciplinary research in next-generation defense technologies.
This is in line with the DIA CoEs set up by DRDO in key academic institutions through which it is building an ecosystem to facilitate technology development in conjunction with the efforts of the different scientists from DRDO laboratories.
The new centre will spearhead focused research initially in identified research and development verticals, including Printing on Flexible Substrates to build devices and systems based on thin films for strategic applications; etc.
Sanjay Tandon, former director of Institute of Technology Management (ITM), Mussoorie, serves as the Director of DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur.
The journey of establishment of DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur started in 2022 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during Def-Expo-2022 at Gandhinagar.
Prof Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, emphasised the importance of the collaborative effort and said, “With the changing times, the need for advancement of technology in defence sector is more than ever to become Atmanirbhar Bharat in true sense of the word. For this, DRDO, Academia and Industry must join hands together.”