CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC)

CODISSIA – Parent Organisation of CDIIC

CODISSIA – The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association – is one of the largest Association for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India, having come a long way since its inception in the year 1969, with about 40 members, today CODISSIA is having more than 6600 members from different sectors. CODISSIA is celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year with NABET Accreditation.

CODISSIA has been consistently organizing Entrepreneur Development Program on all Fridays, since the past 40 years, without any break. It gives counseling to budding as well as existing entrepreneurs, provides necessary hand holding, assist them in getting loans, suggests ways and means to successfully market their product, monitor their progress, and rests only after they get stabilized. All these services are extended Free of Cost by senior and successful members of CODISSIA who devote their time, knowledge and expertise to ensure that these budding entrepreneurs graduate.

The Make in India call of the government of India, fuelled the thought of venturing into Defence indigenization, which formed the basis of setting up of a Defence Innovation Centre at Coimbatore. CODISSIA took the lead and showcased its manufacturing capability at all possible avenues to the Armed Forces and also to the DPSUs. In addition, about 2000 members of CODISSIA propose to join hands and form one single integrator company which will bid for defence supplies. Once the order is bagged, its members would pitch in to manufacture the said component / product and supply to the defence forces. This will not only ensure adequacy of manufacturing prowess but also result in huge savings in terms of foreign exchange, through import substitution.

On 10th Jan 2019, because of CODISSIA’s sincere and consistent efforts, and following the announcement of CODISSIA Defence Innovation Centre by the then Hon. Raksha Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, paved way to CDIIC.

CODISSIA was proudly awarded the Nation’s first “CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre” supported by Innovations for Defence excellence (iDEX) and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).

CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC)

CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC) is a not-for-profit Section 8 company established under the Companies Act, 2013 on 10th January, 2019 by its founding association – CODISSIA (The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It is supported by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

Coimbatore is one of the five nodal points of the Southern Corridor identified for the development of the Defence Sector. CDIIC is the first Defence Innovation Hub to be set up in India, following the announcement of the Defence Innovation Organisation set up under iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence). CDIIC is also one of the Atal Incubation Centres established under the Atal Innovation Mission.

CDIIC is a key contributor to the Southern Defence Corridor while also enabling the MSMEs of this region to become import substitution partners to the armed forces in future. It is in line with the Start- up India Movement of the Government of India, to nurture the start-ups and handhold them till they graduate.

CDIIC extends the needed support to start-ups in terms of incubation of their ideas through mentors and institutions, thereby helping them to graduate. This will be instrumental in developing many new entrepreneurs who in-turn would set up their own industries generating employment opportunities to many. CDIIC has commenced its operations in 2019 and has established communications with various vendors, members of MSMEs/SMEs, the DPSUs and the three forces – Army, Navy and Air Force.

CDIIC Mission

Our Mission will be to achieve this through effective utilisation of CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Incubation Centre, combined with support from Defence Innovation Organisation, Atal Innovation Mission, academic institutions of repute, mentors and MSMEs of this region.

CDIIC Vision

i. To develop Coimbatore region into a leading Defence Manufacturing Hub within the next 10 years and become import substitution partners to the Defence Forces.

ii. To ensure that at least 36 start-ups graduate from the Incubation Centre over a period of 5 years.

CDIIC has the following as its main objectives:

• Identifying requirement of Defence Forces and Defence PSUs.
• Mapping capabilities of MSMEs in and around Coimbatore.
• Analysing the assistance required by the MSMEs and incubating their ideas.
• Creating necessary infrastructure to innovate, develop and test the products and services developed by MSMEs, needed for the Defence Establishments.
• Create linkages with educational institutions having technical expertise to design new products.

• Supporting innovative technology-based startup enterprises in India.
• Establish a high-class incubation facility, including but not limited to: (a) suitable physical infrastructure and operating facilities, and (b) affiliations with sectoral experts.
• Enable support ecosystem for incubated startups, including but not limited to: mentoring, planning, organizing events, lab facilities, regulatory guidance, etc.
• Provide preference in support to startups or innovators that have applications / impact in the core sectors of the economy (e.g. agriculture, healthcare, clean energy and sustainable technologies, education, housing, transportation, Cyber security, IOT, Robotics and AI, water and sanitation, etc.)
• Encourage innovation in the Indian ecosystem, through activities such as, but not limited to, (a) awareness workshops, (b) training and capacity building, (c) mentoring support, to early stage startup enterprises.
• Encourage creation of new technologies and intellectual property.
• To support and carry out any other activity relevant to promotion and incubation of startups in the country.

CDIIC – Platform

Incubation

CDIIC will provide a start-up friendly eco system and provide them an ideal platform for start-ups / Young Entrepreneurs become a successful venture with domain specific mentoring, handholding and funding.

Indigenization

To handhold the products developed at CDIIC Incubation Center needs to be made financially stable for graduation as successful venture & The products developed under Indigenization has to be successfully integrated into our Defence forces as an import substitution.

Support at CDIIC

• Requirement Coordination & Project Management for Indigenization between All Defence Forces, DPSUs & Regional MSME‘s
  
  
• Memberships, News Letters and Events to Outreach messages to all CDIIC members of our Defence corridor
  
  
• Incubation Center – Working space for creating Ecosystem for startup
  
  
• Networking with Defence Units, Other Industrial bodies, Academic Institutions, Industries, VC and Funding agencies
  
  
• Training and Development – Incubators and Skill Development
  
  
• Engineering Services – Indigenization with available resources.
  
  
• CDIIC – Catalyzing innovation in Global and Defence Applications
  
  
• CDIIC– Synergizing with Startup, MSMEs. Defence forces and DPSUs
  
  
• CDIIC—India’s First Defence Innovation Hub Coordinating Indigenization effort taken by Government under Make in India with MSMEs / Startups

CDIIC Kick-Starts its Defence Activities

CDIIC – The Defence Innovation Hub of Southern Defence Corridor

Launching defence activities through the CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC) at a virtual meet was held on 28th Oct 2020 at Gedee Auditorium.

To mark the occasion of kick-starting activities towards the Southern Defence Corridor, CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC) signed MoUs with 5 Base Repair Depot (BRD), Indian Air Force, Sulur and the Naval Ship Repair Yard (NSRY), Kochi for indigenising their components & products.

Rear Admiral Deepak Bansal, Admiral Superintendent of Yard, NSRY, Indian Navy, Air Commodore P.K. Sreekumar, Air Officer Commanding, 5 BRD, Indian Air Force, and Dr. T.K. Varadharajan, Nodal Officer, DGQA were physically present during the event.

Mr. R. Ramamurthy, President, CODISSIA, said that the plan was to make Coimbatore a Defence Manufacturing Hub in the next 10 years.

Mr. V. Sundaram, Director, CDIIC, said in his opening remarksthat10 start-ups, having dual applications in Defence and commercial areas, will be incubated at CDIIC during this year. He updated the progress made by the CDIIC and explained the role of CDIIC as the Defence Innovation Hub – to bridge the gap between Defence, MSMEs and startups.

Dr. K. Gopal, Principal Secretary congratulated CODISSIA and stated the strengths and advantages of MSMEs in the region. Large industries in Tamil Nadu Defence Corridor are supported by MSMEs of Coimbatore. He congratulated CDIIC for playing the role of an integrator between MSMEs and Defence Sector. He stated that the State government was taking a lot of efforts to encourage MSMEs to become Defence manufacturer in the Defence corridor in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Sanjay Jaju, IAS, JS-DIP recognized CODISSIA by referring it as an active industrial body in the country and he highlighted the iDEX activities for start-ups. He also mentioned DIO’s expectation from CDIIC to get 50 products to be indigenised by 4 to 5 years with the cooperation of DPSUs. He promised to extend his full support to CDIIC activities from DIO.

Rear Admiral V. Mohan Doss, VSM, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, (Air material), Indian Navy, addressed the participants on the Collaborative efforts taken by CODISSIA & Indian Navy. Air Vice Marshal S Ramakrishnan, VSM, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Maintenance Plans, Indian Air Force also presented his views on CDIIC and extended his support to collaborate with CODISSIA.

Mr. Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, expressed the importance of innovation required for the new age of living. He congratulated CODISSIA for being selected as the first incubation center supported by AIM, NITI Aayog established by an industrial association. He stressed on the importance of an incubator and shared his hope that CDIIC will become a world class incubator with the support of DIO, AIM, regional industries.

Dr. Ajay Kumar, IAS, Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence (MOD) kick started CODISSIA Defence Innovation and Atal Incubation Centre (CDIIC) and Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) Facilitation Cell through virtual platform. He highlighted the Government’s initiatives to promote Indigenization and innovation activities under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat and Make in India. In his chief guest address, Defence Secretary appreciated CODISSIA for converting the idea of the Defence Innovation Hub (DIH) into reality and thanked the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, DGQA for their role in the same. He also appreciated Shri. Sanjay Jaju, IAS, JS-DIP for spearheading the DIH and he expressed his belief in CODISSIA. He added that CODISSIA members’ capabilities and experience in manufacturing is an additional advantage to CDIIC. He invited the Coimbatore industries to step up into defence and aerospace manufacturing, following the initiatives announced by our Hon’ble Prime Minister.

This innovation centre will play a very important role in doubling the MSMEs in defence manufacturing and Indigenization. Industries in Coimbatore should look for exporting systems, components and sub-systems and become a global supplier. He requested CDIIC to act as partner to the armed forces & other departments of MOD to identify new areas in the journey of innovation and indigenization under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat. The event was followed by an Interactive Session with the 5BRD, NSRY, DGQA and TIDCO representatives on the topic “Tamil Nadu – Defence Corridor opportunities and expectations”. The event was concluded with the vote of thanks by Mr. P.S. Devaraj, Hon. Secretary, CODISSIA

Team @ CDIIC

To Watch the Complete Kick-Start CDIIC Event please click the below image

Compiled by Mr. D.K. Karthikeyan – Editorial Director, Industry4o.com.
He can be contacted @ [email protected] / [email protected]
Mobile : +91 98430 24566 / +91 97860 12122

Also read our earlier articles on CODISSIA