iTIC Incubator at IIT Hyderabad, H4XLabs initiate joint accelerator under INDUS-X

Hyderabad: INDUS-X (India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem) is an initiative to build a defence innovation bridge by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX), the Ministry of Defence, and the US Department of Defence (DoD). A collaboration agenda under INDUS-X includes an accelerator program for defence start-ups to be steered by iTIC Incubator at IIT Hyderabad and H4XLabs. Acting over the same, a workshop was organised by iTIC and H4X to initiate the INDO-US CrossLinX accelerator program.

The CrossLinX accelerator would prepare Indian defence startups to expand to the US markets. Once the startups are ready, they would embark on a trip to the US for 7-10 days to engage with government officials, investors, defence contractors, and stakeholders. At the program's culmination, startups would showcase their products as part of Demo Day in India.

The launch event included a series of sessions on the US defence landscape by experts from diverse domains. The event saw the participation of various defence startups and MSMEs from across India. Other dignitaries witnessing the event included D. Alan Johnson (Lt Col-United States Air Force, Director-Defense Cooperation in Armaments DCA, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi), Jonathan Mangrum (Policy Advisor for South Asia, OSD - OUSD Policy- Indo Pacific Security Affairs), ecosystem partner EriK Azulay (Director and Founder-ACIR), Capt. Roy Joseph, Program Director, iDEX) and team from iDEX.

Conveying his best wishes for the success of the Accelerator, Prof B S Murty, Director, IITH, “We are confident about the blooming strategic cooperation between India and the US through various initiatives like iCET and INDUS-X and assure the support of IITH to such initiatives.”

At the launch event, Prof Suryakumar S, Dean ITS, IITH, said, “The Joint Accelerator Program is a testament to the collaborative spirit of INDUS-X and we hope that it will galvanise the Indian startups for a global presence”.

Capt. Roy Joseph talked about INDUS-X and the opportunities for startups under the Indo-US collaboration agenda. He also gave an overview of iDEX.