Partners
The Ministry of Defence’s Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative is a critical step towards achieving self-reliance and export excellence in BUILDING & BUYING strategic defence technology and product innovation, thereby bolstering India’s Defence & Deterrence capabilities to global best standards.
The program is designed for empowering visionary innovators & ambitious entrepreneurs to develop advanced technologies and products for Indian Defenceand has emerged as the largest open innovation platform for India’s national defence and security. Forge has played a pivotal role in devising the iDEX framework in the design, execution, and institutionalisation of key program SOPs of iDEX’s vertically integrated Path2Procurement process ultimately leading to procurement under the Innovation category introduced in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
Through this, iDEX seeds, accelerates and scales India’s defence tech startup ecosystem - building internal selfstrengthening mechanisms to foster defence R&D in next-gen military tech, advancing India’s self-reliance not just in defence production and product but also in defence technology & capabilities - at global best standards.
iDEX PROJECTS ONBOARDED, MENTORED & MANAGED
PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS WON
GRANTS SANCTIONED
PROCUREMENT ORDERS UNLOCKED
PROCUREMENT ORDERS IN PIPELINE
INVESTMENTS RAISED BY FORGE’S DEFENCE TECH STARTUPS
iDEX pioneers a Path2Procurement framework for PRODUCT MANAGEMENT APPROACH leveraging Startup Innovation to gain Early, Preemptive, Exclusive, Indigenous, and Localised access to futuristic tech translated into operational capabilities, determined by evolving military doctrines...
Defining the Right PRODUCT involves ensuring the completeness and accuracy of requirements to effectively translate the needs and expectations of military users and operators. It also focuses on enabling the seamless transition of the innovation project’s outcomes from the development phase to commercial procurement, facilitating accelerated readiness for defence production and acquisition.
Building the Right PRODUCT involves ensuring the completeness and accuracy of requirements to effectively translate the needs and expectations of military users and operators. It also focuses on enabling the seamless transition of the innovation project’s outcomes from the development phase to commercial procurement, facilitating accelerated readiness for defence production and acquisition.
Building the Product RIGHT involves ensuring the completeness and accuracy of requirements to effectively translate the needs and expectations of military users and operators. It also focuses on enabling the seamless transition of the innovation project’s outcomes from the development phase to commercial procurement, facilitating accelerated readiness for defence production and acquisition.
City Innovation Exchange is an initiative by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), in partnership with Forge, aimed at helping 4000+ Urban Local Bodies across the country to adopt innovative & technologically advanced solutions from startups—Transforming the Urban Public Sector in the country.
As the Knowledge and Capabilities Partner to MoHUA, Forge played a pivotal role in developing the program and is actively supporting 100+ Smart Cities in implementing SmartProcure—an innovation procurement policy by MoHUA, co-authored by Forge. This policy, implemented through the CiX Digital Platform, accelerates Lab-2- Procurement of innovative & technologically advanced solutions by enabling cities to directly procure solutions from startups, fostering transformation and sustainability within urban governance.
URBAN TECH STARTUPS ONBOARDED ONTO THE CiX DIGITAL PLATFORM
PROCUREMENT ORDERS
PROCUREMENT ORDERS ISSUED TO STARTUPS THROUGH SMARTPROCURE
CITIES ONBOARDED ONTO THE CiX DIGITAL PLATFORM
CiX unifies People, Policy, Process, and Digital Platform necessary to realise the vision of Digital Transformation of public sectors through Open Innovation powered by startups as technology & innovation partners.
Key stakeholders driving innovation in cities, including city administrators, innovators, strategic partners, and the local community
Structured Innovation Process to help cities discover, co-create, validate, qualify, and procure solutions.Cities have the flexibility to enter and exit at any stage in the process.
Key stakeholders driving innovation in cities, including city administrators, innovators, strategic partners, and the local community.
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Structured Innovation Process to help cities discover, co-create, validate, qualify, and procure solutions.Cities have the flexibility to enter and exit at any stage in the process.
OPEN INNOVATION IN THE
IMPACT SECTOR
The impact sector harbours immense social & developmental transformative potential, with a substantial market opportunity. Impact Innovation Startups are unmatched in their frugal innovation approach making them well-positioned to drive innovation and growth in a resource-constrained environment - offering affordable and accessible alternatives while operating efficiently and keeping costs in check by doing more with less. Forge.Foundry’s Impact Innovation Programs offer catalytic capital for product development of impact innovations as well as subsidise the implementation of impact innovation projects by deep tech startups within public and private sectors - while offering them a structured accelerator program to grow & scale them into successful tech enterprises.
Impact Innovation Grants, implemented by Forge, in partnership with HDFC Parivartan, aimed at funding startups commercialising technologically advanced solutions for addressing critical challenges in the areas of Climate Change Resilience & Reversal. The startup grant is primarily positioned as a pilot grant for market stage startups to fund a pilot project implemented with their prospective buyers/customers which essentially subsidises in part the overall project cost for the buyer/customer and the successful implementation of the pilot project builds proof for a large-scale deployment in the future. This ensures that the prospective public and private sector clients/buyers of impact startups adopt technological solutions at a lower risk & cost, overcoming rigid procurement processes, insufficient budgets and adoption barriers when introducing new technologies into their operations.
Through this program, four climate tech startups have received funding to execute pilot projects with potential buyers over the course of 6 months. These pilots aim to generate substantial impact while proving the feasibility of scaling the solutions.
Currently, four successful startups have been selected within the climate tech sector. Over the next 6 months, these startups will execute pilot projects with their potential buyers with an objective of generating substantial impact.
APPLICATIONS RECEIVED
STARTUPS SHORTLISTED
STARTUPS SELECTED (WINNERS)
GRANTS OFFERED TO STARTUPS
IMPACT INNOVATION NEXUS
Impact Innovation Nexus is an impact accelerator program, in partnership with Karur Vysya Bank, is aimed at providing Catalytic Capital (Pilot Grants) for subsidising the implementation of impact innovation projects by deep tech startups within public and private sectors, while offering a startup accelerator program to operate & scale them as successful tech enterprises.
Subsidising pilot projects for impact-driven tech innovations by startups & helping them demonstrate real-world impact - thereby reducing risk and cost for public and private sector clients, and easing adoption barriers and rigid procurement processes for new technologies.
Offering tech labs, strategic advisory, market access, and investment pathways to drive product, revenue, and growth for impact startups tackling social, environmental, and developmental challenges in public and industrial sectors.
PILOT PROJECTS
IMPACT STARTUPS UNDER ACCELERATION
COMMERCIAL PILOT GRANTS
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