US-India Defense Innovation Summit to Strengthen Strategic Ties

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

The summit, entitled ‘Harnessing Investment Opportunities to Enhance Cross-Border Defense Innovation Ecosystems,’ will highlight the role of private capital in driving the defense innovation sector. It aims to facilitate interactions between American and Indian leaders in defense innovation, 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) from the Indian Ministry of Defense, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) from the US Department of Defense. This follows a successful four-day visit to Washington, DC, by India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who held a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III.

Rajnath Singh praised the INDUS-X initiative, saying, ‘Indian and American startups and innovators are important to our national security. The INDUS-X Summit provides a vibrant platform for technology leaders in both nations to foster partnerships and collaborations in the defense sector. I wish the event great success.’ US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III added, ‘As the third INDUS-X summit kicks off, I’m proud to see our investors, businesses, and researchers working under INDUS-X to address critical defense technology requirements and co-produce cutting -edge military capabilities that will safeguard a free and open Indo-Pacific.’ Both defense heads recognized INDUS-X’s role in creating networks across startups, industry, academia, and governments to accelerate the adoption of new technologies and enhance the warfighting capabilities of both nations. The summit will feature keynote addresses, panel discussions, and roundtable sessions on topics like strengthening defense and technology partnerships, funding defense innovation, and supply resilient chains.

(With inputs from agencies.)