US-India Defense Innovation Summit to Strengthen Strategic Ties

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), in collaboration with the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, on Monday announced that the third edition of the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) Summit will be held on September 9-10 in California. The event, hosted at Stanford University in Palo Alto, will unite top defense policymakers from Washington and New Delhi to focus on strengthening the defense and advanced technology partnership, according to an official statement by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

The summit, titled “Harnessing Investment Opportunities to Strengthen Cross-Border Defense Innovation Ecosystems,” will highlight the role of private capital in driving the defense innovation sector. It aims to facilitate interactions between U.S. and Indian defense innovation leaders, including startups, venture capitalists, academia, accelerators, and industry professionals, to foster co-production and investment opportunities. The INDUS-X initiative is led by Innovations for Defense Excellence (iDEX) of the Indian Ministry of Defense, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) of the U.S. Department of Defense. This comes on the heels of a successful four-day visit to Washington by Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who held a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

Rajnath Singh lauded the INDUS-X initiative, saying, “Indian and American startups and innovators are important to our national security. The INDUS-X Summit provides a dynamic platform for technology leaders in both countries to foster partnerships and collaboration in the defence sector. I wish the event great success.” US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin III added, “As the third INDUS-X Summit begins, I am proud to see our investors, businesses and researchers working together under INDUS-X to address critical defence technology requirements and jointly create cutting-edge military capabilities that will secure a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Both the defence chiefs appreciated the role of INDUS-X in creating networks among startups, industry, academia and governments to accelerate the adoption of new technologies and enhance the warfighting capabilities of both countries. The Summit will feature plenary speeches, panel discussions and roundtable sessions on topics including strengthening defence and technology partnerships, financing defence innovation and supply chain resilience.

(Based on information from the agency.)