Secretary (Defence Production) interacts with Directors/Deans of leading academic institutions

Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Sanjeev Kumar held a virtual interaction with Directors/Deans of leading academic institutions, including IITs, NITs and IISc, along with DPSUs and other stakeholders in New Delhi on January 27, 2026. The discussions focused on aligning academic research with needs of defence production and evolving structured mechanisms for sustained engagement. Key areas of deliberations included fostering long-term student-driven research in academic institutions, strengthening Academia-DPSU collaboration moving beyond short-term project-based collaboration, and institutionalising structured initiatives for providing insights into futuristic technologies. This would help in facilitating effective translation of academic research into deployable defence capabilities.

Expressing gratitude to the participants for their valuable inputs, the Secretary (Defence Production) stated that such interactions would provide the Ministry with deeper insights into academic research capabilities and perspectives. He urged the academia for adoption of a consultative format with Department of Defence Production to enable long-term national capability development.

The interaction was attended by Director, IIT Madras Prof. V. Kamakoti; Director, IIT Kanpur Prof. M. Agrawal; Director, IIT Bombay Prof. S. Kedare; Director, IIT Hyderabad Prof. B.S. Murthy; Director, IIT Gandhinagar Prof R. Moona; Director, IIT Tirupati Prof K. N. Satyanarayana; Director, IIT Guwahati Prof D. Jalihal; and other senior professors from 24 premier academic institutions of the country.

The interaction reaffirmed the Ministry of Defence’s commitment to leveraging the strengths of the nation’s premier academic institutions in building a resilient, self-reliant, and future-ready defence technology ecosystem in collaboration with industry partners.