IIT Madras partners with French firm to boost India's aviation, space, defence sector

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has partnered with French firm Starburst Accelerator SARL to establish an innovative hub for startups. The collaboration will be supported by 100 million euros to boost the Aviation, Space, and Defence (ASD) ecosystem in India. The agreement was signed on March 25 at the IIT Madras campus.

As per the official press release, this partnership will enable Starburst to set up accelerator programmes at IIT Madras with the goal of fostering a robust ASD ecosystem in India. Starburst Accelerator SARL will also create venture capital funds for ASD technology, a powerful engine to drive the transformation of India’s economy and its integration with global stakeholders.

The partnership will primarily focus on entrepreneurs, research parks, investors (public and private), government, and corporate firms. The aim is to create innovative startups and help them grow rapidly to work in tandem with future aerospace and new space worldwide programmes, the institute said.

Highlighting the benefits to India from this startup accelerator initiative, IIT Madras director V Kamakoti said, “Encouraging young entrepreneurs is extremely important as we embark on our journey to become a multi-trillion economy. In this context, such collaborations with accelerators to nurture startups in critical and emerging sectors are crucial and timely”.

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The programmes will offer access to entrepreneurs and innovators, drive new technologies, business ideas, and models, and boost the Indian aerospace and defence innovation ecosystem. Additionally, it will enable startups and entrepreneurs to explore synergies and avenues of collaboration with industry, government and beyond, besides guiding them towards rapid implementation and global commercialisation.

Projects under the collaboration

Some of the projects that could be taken up in India through this partnership include:

• Market analysis and scouting of identified technology for aerospace or defence players

• Innovation transformation of a market leader in his domain

• International expansion strategy for subject matter experts (SMEs) and go-to-market strategy

• Design and structuration of a lab for government or corporate

• Market sizing and growth potential

• Product-market-fit analysis