Explained | What is the India-US Initiative on Future Technology?

The story so far: Earlier this week, India and the United States unveiled a roadmap to enhance collaboration in high-tech areas, with a focus on tackling regulatory barriers and aligning export controls for smoother trade and “cooperation deeper” in critical areas. This was part of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) announced by President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year. National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan, who visited India this week to prepare the ground for the Prime Minister’s state visit to the US starting June 21, reviewed progress. of the initiative in the second track 1.5 dialogue on iCET on Tuesday.

What is iCET?

The Critical and Emerging Technologies Initiative is a framework agreed by India and the US for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies in areas including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and wireless telecommunications. It was launched in January this year to strengthen their strategic partnership and boost cooperation in technology and defense. Mr Modi and Mr Biden first announced the framework on the sidelines of the Quad meeting in Tokyo in May 2022. “The United States and India affirm that the ways in which technology is designed, developed, governed and used must be shaped by our shared democratic values ​​and respect for universal human rights. We are committed to fostering an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual trust, that will reinforce our democratic values ​​and democratic institutions,” the White House said.

What are the focus areas of the initiative?

Primarily, iCET seeks to position New Delhi and Washington DC as “trusted technology partners” to build supply chains and support co-production and co-development of items. A White House fact sheet released after the inaugural dialogue provides an overview of areas the two countries intend to explore to expand the depth of technology partnership and cooperation between their governments, businesses and academic institutions.

Key points include creating an association of research agencies to boost collaboration in areas like AI; develop a new defense industrial cooperation roadmap to speed up technology cooperation for joint development and production; develop common standards in AI; developing a roadmap to accelerate defense technology cooperation and an ‘innovation bridge’ to connect defense startups; support the development of a semiconductor ecosystem; strengthen cooperation in manned spaceflight; advance cooperation for development in 5G and 6G; and the adoption of OpenRAN network technology in India.

What has been the progress so far?

India and the US have made “significant progress” in several key areas identified for collaboration since the launch of iCET, a likely result of multiple visits and high-profile talks between officials and stakeholders over the past year. As Mr. Doval mentioned in the second round of iCET talks, the two countries have already implemented the Quantum Coordination Mechanism, launched a public-private dialogue (PDD) on telecommunications to boost collaboration on OpenRAN, 5G and 6G, and celebrated “important exchanges” on AI and space. In March, India and the US signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a semiconductor supply chain that paved the way for the creation of a semiconductor sub-committee to review the recommendations of an industry-led task force launched in relation to the iCET.

On the defense front, the two countries are close to concluding a mega jet engine deal, with a final announcement expected during Mr Modi’s visit.

In addition, a new initiative to promote cutting-edge technological cooperation, known as the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), will be launched during the visit. India and the US have also finalized a roadmap for ‘Defense Industrial Cooperation’ to guide the direction of policy for the coming years. The two countries have also established a Strategic Business Dialogue to remove regulatory “barriers” and review existing export control rules to further the strategic business and technology collaborations envisioned at iCET.

Both NSAs express optimism that the initiative will achieve more specific and tangible results in the near future.