IIT Madras, French aerospace & defence firm to set up €100 million innovation hub for startups

CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is partnering with French aerospace and defence firm Starburst Accelerator SARL to set up an innovation hub for startups with a funding support of €100 million.

Under the collaboration, the premier technology institute will enable Starburst to set up accelerator programmes to boost the aviation, space, and defence (ASD) ecosystem in India.

According to a statement from IIT Madras, Starburst Accelerator SARL is looking to create venture capital funds for ASD technology, a powerful engine to drive the transformation of India’s economy and its integration with global stakeholders.

As part of the partnership, Starburst will create a consulting team that can be composed of IIT Madras alumni and experienced military officers besides ASD managers and senior consultants from Starburst to help start-ups scale.

By capitalising on Starburst’s extensive network in Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, Singapore, Seoul, Tel Aviv, and Madrid with more than 17,000 startups, Indian ASD startups would be able to explore international markets, it said.

“A key focus of this partnership will be on entrepreneurs, research parks, investors (public and private), government, and corporate firms. The aim is to create innovative startups and help them grow rapidly to work in tandem with future aerospace and New Space worldwide programmes,” the statement added.

A memorandum of understanding towards this collaboration was signed at the IIT Madras campus on March 25 by François Chopard, founder and CEO, Starburst Aerospace, Cedric Vallet, innovation and venture director, Starburst Aerospace, and Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Prof Manu Santhanam, Dean (ICSR), IIT Madras, in the presence of representatives from IIT Madras and Starburst Aerospace.

“Together, we aim at creating a robust ASD ecosystem that support innovation in Deeptech, and the production in India, to meet the future challenges of Aerospace, New Space and Defence worldwide players,” said Starburst Aerospace founder-CEO Chopard.

Highlighting the benefits to India from the startup accelerator initiative, IIT Madras director Kamakoti said, “Encouraging young entrepreneurs is extremely important as we embark on our journey to become a multi-trillion economy. To this effect, reputed higher educational institutions must aspire to nurture future employers than employees. In this context, such collaborations with accelerators to nurture startups in critical and emerging sectors are crucial and timely.”