The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) have partnered to create a DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA CoE) on the IITK campus. This effort, which involves business, academia, and the DRDO, aims to promote multidisciplinary research in next-generation defense technology.
Key Research Areas
The new centre will focus on several advanced research and development verticals, including :
- Printing on flexible substrates: developing thin-film-based systems and devices for strategic uses.
- Advanced Nanomaterials: Contributing to Material Selection and Design.
- Accelerated Material Design and Development: implementing large-scale experiments to reduce the actual number of trial experiments.
- High Energy Materials: modeling high-performance explosives and predicting metallized explosives’ performance.
- Bio-engineering: Inventing technology with uses ranging from wound healing to the detection of dangerous substances.
Leadership and Management
At IIT Kanpur, Sanjay Tandon, a former head of the Institute of Technology Management in Mussoorie, is the director of the DIA CoE. He is in charge of the center’s joint initiatives and strategic planning. The DRDO will provide funding for the projects and set up the essential technical infrastructure and modern facilities needed for the R&D programs under the designated verticals.
Inception and Inauguration
Signed during Def-Expo-2022 in Gandhinagar, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marked the start of the development of DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur in 2022. Dr. Samir V. Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defense R&D and Chairman, DRDO, and Professor Manindra Agarwal, Director, IIT Kanpur, jointly inaugurated the DIA CoE at IIT Kanpur.
Leadership Perspectives
Professor Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur
“To truly become Atmanirbhar Bharat in the true sense of the word, the defense sector needs to advance significantly more than ever in light of the changing times.” To do this, industry, academia, and DRDO must work together. With its cutting-edge facilities and solid R&D experience, IIT Kanpur is ideally positioned to support this cooperative endeavor. I want to congratulate the entire team and wish DIA CoE IIT Kanpur all the best.
Dr. Samir V. Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defense R&D, and Chairman, DRDO
The long-term adaptation of a number of vital technologies will be facilitated by the Center, ensuring the defense industry’s stability and independence. This will shorten the time it takes to develop new materials for innovative defense systems—which could have taken ten to fifteen years otherwise. To meet the defense department’s long-term requests, DRDO and IIT Kanpur will work together on research projects in specific technical areas.
Dr. Subrata Rakshit, Director of General Technology Management, DRDO
Establishing DIA CoEs in 15 academic institutions, these centers will function as R&D hubs to meet the Defense Department’s future demands. They will combine our companies’ desire to commercialize developing domestic defense technologies, the subject expertise of DRDO scientists, and the research capabilities found in our elite university institutions.
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