Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan inaugurated the first edition of the Tri Services Academia Technology Symposium (T-SATS) at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi on Monday. The two-day event aims to synergise academia, startups, industry, and the Armed Forces to co-develop cutting-edge, indigenous technologies for India’s defence sector.
The symposium has brought together Directors, Heads of Departments, and students from 62 leading institutions including IISc, IITs, IIITs, and private technology institutes.
In his inaugural address, General Chauhan underlined the changing character of modern warfare, which is increasingly shaped by the convergence of kinetic and non-kinetic domains. He called for a whole-of-nation approach to build integrated, future-ready solutions and urged academia to scale innovation and help make India a global leader in next-generation defence technologies.
The CDS also inaugurated a Technology Exhibition featuring 47 innovative projects from participating institutions. These projects were evaluated by subject matter experts from the three Services for their potential military applications, with selected proposals set to receive R&D collaboration and funding support.
A major highlight of T-SATS was a series of 108 one-on-one meetings between academic innovators and service representatives, providing a platform to pitch R&D ideas and receive strategic guidance on converting them into military use cases.
During the event, MoUs were signed with several prominent institutions, including IIT Madras, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Rashtriya Raksha University, Nirma University, and others, to formalise future research collaborations.
Themed “Vivek va Anusandhan se Vijay” (Victory through Wisdom and Research), T-SATS marks a significant step in forging a structured partnership between academia and the Armed Forces to drive mission-oriented technological development and strengthen national security.
The symposium will continue on September 23, with further brainstorming sessions and project evaluations.
