Start ups urged to imbibe new tech and capabilities

HYDERABAD

Former Chairman of the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) A.S. Kiran Kumar on Friday underscored the need for scaling up the start-ups in the space and the defence sectors by imbibing emerging new technologies and capabilities as otherwise, it will be difficult to survive.

Dr. Kumar was delivering the presidential address at the beginning of the two-day annual general meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) being held here on Friday. The meeting was being held along with the national conference on ‘Evolving ecosystem in aerospace: Challenges and opportunities for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ jointly organised with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Stating that the country was in the cusp of “great things” to happen with the government’s proactive approach, he called upon the organisations like the AeSI to help the start ups in evolving a mechanism using the experience of the scientists experience for enhanced capabilities.

“There are many challenges and we can think of creating our own standards rather than depend on others. We can also come up with a procedure for certifications on which the evolving start ups can work on to re-invent,” he suggested. He also praised ISRO for the “risky” mission of putting 36 communication satellites into space with the help of launch vehicle LVM3 last month.

It was a “courageous” decision on the part of the current ISRO chairman S. Somnath to go ahead with the launch as it was an “untested” launch vehicle. “It has created dynamic enthusiasm among the scientific community and everyone will get benefitted,” he said.

Adviser to Defence Minister and former DRDO chairman G. Satheesh Reddy complimented the ISRO and missiles teams for the recent respective successful launches, including the ballistic missile defence systems. Delivering the welcome address as the incoming president elect of the AeSI, he extolled the member-scientists to mull over the role of the organisation in in actively participating in the country’s quest for self-reliance in the aerospace sector.

Top scientists of the defence and aerospace sector from both the public and private sector as well as the academia and start ups are participating in the meetings.