Role in ecosystem coordination
Four structural gaps. One method for closing them. These are the domains CADET is focused on.
01 / The context
iDEX, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and the Defence Industrial Corridors have done real work: more startups, more capital, more policy attention than ever before. Geopolitical shifts and supply-chain realignment have only raised the stakes further.
The ingredients for a serious indigenous defence industry already exist. What happens next depends on whether the ecosystem can actually connect them.
02 / Where it stalls
Founders are building real technology. Capital is flowing in. But getting from a funded prototype to an order that actually scales is where most startups stall.
03 / The coordination layer
Industry bodies represent manufacturers. Investors bet on unproven ideas. The Ministry sets policy. Each mandate is real, and each one stops exactly where the next one begins.
Coordinating across all of it isn't built into anyone's job description. That is the layer CADET exists to build.
04 / The full diagnosis
Predictable pathways from prototype to order are still the exception, not the rule.
Venture-style timelines don't match how long defence technology actually takes to mature.
Founders, veterans, capital, and policy rarely sit in the same room, let alone work from the same information.
Few people entering this sector are actually trained in how defence procurement, compliance, or deployment work.
05 / Connecting the ecosystem
Connecting an ecosystem is not one format. It is a room where the right people meet, guidance for the teams actually building, and written work that carries what was said back out to everyone else.
Closed, off-the-record rooms where operators, founders, capital, and policy sit together.
Direct guidance for teams working through procurement, compliance, and deployment.
Written analysis that turns field requirements into something founders can build against.
Fellowships that train people in how defence procurement, compliance, and deployment actually work.
Standing relationships across industry, government, and research that keep information moving.
Long-run engagements for teams and institutions that need this expertise on call.
These are the domains CADET is focused on.
CADET is an independent initiative.
