DRDO Industry Outreach Programme: DRDO took a big step in the right direction to boost defence innovation in India and rally the entire system behind the cause of Self-Reliance and a Developed India by successfully holding a very impactful Industry Outreach Programme at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi on 1 December 2025. The historic event was about connecting different people and groups from DRDO labs, defence industries, policy makers, scientists, and industry leaders to a common forum to work together and spark home-grown defence innovation.
The Outreach Programme was initiated with a definite objective: to connect the dots between DRDO’s R&D potential and India’s defence industrial ecosystem. By facilitating the exchange of views, ideas, and plans among the government research centers and private industry the partners, the platform intended to become the vehicle for technology transfer, joint innovation, and industrial growth, thus getting India closer to its defence production targets.
Participation and Scale
Approximately 220 scientists from 18 DRDO laboratories working on niche and critical defence technologies were involved in the event.
271 industry leaders from various sectors of the defence industry and different types of businesses were very enthusiastic to join the discussions and express their points of view.
The combination of technical and industrial expertise created very good conditions for the representatives to talk about the most urgent problems in the defence field and look for collaboration possibilities.
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DRDO Industry Outreach Programme: Highlights of the Event
1. Policy Announcement: DRDO’s ToT Policy 2025
The launch of the revised Technology Transfer (ToT) Policy 2025, a comprehensive plan for sharing and implementing DRDO technologies by industrial partners, was probably the most prominent feature of the day.
This policy is intended to:
- Make the handover of technologies to industry more user-friendly
- Cutting down on the red tape involved in the process
- Speed up scaling from prototype to production
Clarification of the norms on how co-development and co-manufacturing of high-tech defence products should be carried out paves the way for industries to be more active in the field of self-reliance.
2. Open House Discussion
Open house discussion was one of the most interactive segments when industry folks came up with grievances, asked questions, provided ideas, and had a direct conversation with DRDO guys and government officials.
The main focus of the conversation were:
- Problems of domestic production cycles
- Implementation of intellectual property policies
- Models of collaboration comprising PSUs and private companies
The head of DRDO and the Secretary (Defence Production) responded to these questions and many of the ideas presented were taken up for further policy extension.
Key Addresses and Insights
Chairman DRDO: Dr. Samir V. Kamat
Dr. Kamat maintained a bright perspective in front of the Indian industry and marked that the present policy environment and technology ecosystem would facilitate a sizable rise in indigenous defence manufacturing over the next 5 years. He also pointed out that: the industry would gain more and more opportunities for collaboration; Indian industry would play a pivotal role in satisfying the technology needs of the forces and other government agencies; the integrated ecosystem has all the necessary ingredients to become competitive worldwide very soon and he expressed a strong belief in it.
Secretary (Defence Production): Shri Sanjeev Kumar
Mr. Secretary emphasized that self-reliance in the defence sector is not achievable unless the entire product cycle from design and development to large-scale manufacturing stays in India.
The programme also underscored the changes that were underway in the Indian defence sector showing how it was turning from a net importer to a net exporter of defence equipment, a transition made possible by continuous innovation and collaborative models, which link government labs with industry.
The expert like Dr (Mrs) Chandrika Kaushik, DG (Production Coordination & Services Interaction), gave details on the various measures taken by DRDO to widen the reach of the industrial sector, promote indigenisation, facilitate startups and MSMEs, and merge the research progresses with the practical side of defence.
