“DRDO has been strategically endeavoring to establish the Research Eco-System for Directed Research through academic collaboration with a vision to make India a global technology leader in conceiving and developing next generation defence technologies. . Directorate of Futuristic Technology Management (DFTM) has been established on 9th Oct 2013 to pursue directed research through a network of Advanced Technology Centres (ATCs) established within the academic institutes across the country.
The main charter of DFTM is to steer the collaborative academic directed research to address the futuristic technology challenges and gaps. DFTM has been entrusted responsibility for planning and managing the directed research through new advanced technology centres and linking technology development to DRDO technology perspective plan created based on integrated long-term armed force requirements.
In the last five years, DRDO has provided impetus to outcome oriented directed research by required grant to ATCs and continuously intensifying its collaboration with the premier and capable academic institutes and universities”.