Lockheed Martin and the Department of the Science and Technology gave away medals, certificates and cash awards to the winners of the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Lockheed Martin India Innovation Growth Programme 2011. Thirty young innovators were felicitated in New Delhi recently.

The programme is funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and Lockheed Martin Corporation, and has been developed with the assistance of the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, IC2 Institute at the University of Texas, and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Dr Ray O. Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Office, Lockheed Martin said, “We understand the power of innovation and technology that exist in India and we intend to partner with India to solve global security problems. The government, industry and academia have come together through this programme and the focus is not only on technology but also on commercialisation.”

Praveen S. Jambholkar, Director-Technical, Cybermotion Innovative Technologies was awarded for developing a digital signal processing (DSP) based adaptive control algorithm for aerospace and defence. An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, Jambholkar’s innovative technology is an adaptive algorithm that tracks and controls the fins on a missile. The innovation enhances target tracking and accuracy and requires no hardware changes. Besides working closely with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Jambholkar said the company is in talks with various companies across the globe. The company which also specialises in navigation control is looking forward to be a part of the Indian armed forces. “Besides our ongoing negotiations with Bell, Tata, Lockheed Martin, there is demand for our products all over the world. But the talks are in an initial stage now,” said Jambholkar.