New Delhi: The second edition of the Indian Navy’s Naval Innovation and Indigenisation (NIIO) Seminar – ‘Swavlamban 2023’ is scheduled to be conducted on October 4 and 5, 2023. In the maiden edition of the seminar, held in July 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 75 challenges for the start-ups/ MSMEs as a part of the ‘SPRINT’ initiative. The ‘SPRINT Challenges’, are aimed at giving a boost to the usage of indigenous technology in the Indian Navy, and the Navy is committed to developing at least 75 technologies/ products as part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.

During “Swavlamban-2023” seventy five (75) prototypes will be showcased. SPRINT is a collaborative initiative being undertaken in conjunction with the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) and stands for Supporting Pole-Vaulting in R&D through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), NIIO and Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC). This initiative has received an overwhelming response with 1106 proposals.

After a detailed examination, 113 winners under the DISC 7 SPRINT category (with grants up to 1.5 crore) and 5 winners in the DISC 7 SPRINT-PRIME category (grants up to 10 crore) were declared, and the development of prototypes is being progressed by all the winners. Conclusion of over 100 developmental agreements between iDEX and industry was achieved, with active engagement of the Indian Navy, iDEX and start-ups/ MSMEs.

Niche technologies are being progressed across the spectrum, including blue-green lasers for underwater applications; Autonomous weaponised swarms and Underwater swarm drones; multiple firefighting aids; introduction of Artificial Intelligence (Al) for various uses and the development of an ultra-endurance small drone for maritime missions.

It is proposed to showcase these 75 prototypes, including a live demo of a few promising technologies, during “Swavlamban-2023”, scheduled on October 4-5, 2023 in New Delhi.