India, UK launch joint Technology Security Initiative spanning 7 key areas

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The Indian and UK Prime Ministers, recognising the increasing role of technology in national security and economic development, have launched a new ‘Technology Security Initiative’ (TSI), spanning seven vital sectors, to elevate the strategic partnership between the two countries, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The TSI, to be coordinated by the National Security Advisors (NSAs) of both countries, will build upon the ambitious bilateral cooperation agenda set out in the India-UK Roadmap 2030, and will bring into sharper focus collaboration in critical and emerging technologies (CET) across priority sectors, as per the TSI document, shared by the Ministry of External Affairs.

The domains, for the launch of new bilateral initiatives and accelerating cooperation between relevant stakeholders within government, technology and research centres, and industry to expand and deepen the technology security partnership were listed as, but not limited, to telecoms, critical minerals, semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, quantum, biotechnology and healthtech, and advanced materials.

The NSAs will set the priority areas and identify interdependencies for cooperation on CETs that will help build meaningful technology value chain partnerships and the Deputy NSAs will review the progress on a half-yearly basis. A bilateral mechanism will also be set up for promotion of trade in CETs, including the resolution of relevant licensing or regulatory issues.

Lauding the existing collaborations, the two countries said that they seek to build on this strong foundation to collectively shape a fourth industrial revolution that improves the citizens’ health, wellbeing and prosperity, in ways which support democracy and peace, the document said.

In the telecoms domain, both countries will collaborate on joint research on future telecoms, focussed on Open RAN systems, testbed linkups, telecoms security, spectrum innovation, software and systems architecture, and a partnership to boost security, resilience and performance of telecom networks, among others.

Collaboration is also envisaged between UK and Indian researchers in global design and development of next-generation telecommunication technologies, and promoting 6G technology engagement, and collaboration on telecoms diversification, telecoms security, telecoms standards, telecom equipment and use of spectrum.

Both countries will also encourage pilot projects by Indian and UK companies in each other’s 4G/5G/6G stack and enterprise connectivity, connected devices, edge computing and adoption of green and sustainable telecommunications.

In critical minerals, both countries will expand collaboration, work together to improve supply chain resilience, and explore possible research and development and technology partnerships along the complete critical minerals value chain (including exploration, processing, and manufacturing).

A UK-India “critical minerals” community of academics, innovators, and industry will be established, and partnerships leveraged to develop economically feasible and environmentally sustainable extraction technologies for identified critical minerals.

Collaboration between leading Indian and UK research institutes will be deepened as well between the British Geological Survey (BGS) and Geological Survey of India (GSI), along with IREL (India) Ltd, including on Rare Earth Elements exploration.

On semiconductors, the two countries will seek to leverage their individual strengths and incentives, and explore mutually beneficial R&D focused on strategic issues such as supply chain resilience collaboration, skills exchanges and hardware security.

The partnership will seek opportunities for academic and industrial R&D collaboration, including in chip design and IP, compound semiconductors, etc with a focus on strategically important applications such as powering net zero, advanced telecommunications and cybersecurity. It will also comprise sharing best practices and knowledge exchange programmes on workforce development, and encouraging further integration of supply chains for manufacturing and designing semiconductor chips and wafers, among other objectives.

The UK and India will work towards safe, responsible, human-centric and trustworthy AI, which can promote global good and strengthen interoperability between their AI governance frameworks, as well as cooperate in fora like the G20, Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), and the United Nations (UN).

A mechanism for collaboration and policy exchange on AI applications, and to equip AI researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and industry professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to detect, mitigate and challenge bias in AI algorithms are also among the objectives.

Existing efforts by British and Indian institutions will be utilised towards the creation of a joint Centre for Responsible AI, while a group of experts will be commissioned to deliver a report on specific areas for targeted collaboration to take forward further development of AI and its applications across sectors.

Both countries said they recognise that quantum is an important area for discussion, and will respond to the rapidly changing technological landscape by establishing a high-level dialogue to gain an in-depth understanding of national strategies, and possible future research.

Both will also have joint hackathons in quantum algorithms and solutions for automotive, life sciences, chemicals, and greenhouse gas domains, entrepreneurship training for translating quantum capabilities into business applications and academic/industry exchanges on skills development.

It was also agreed to strengthen biotechnology cooperation, launch a high-level partnership on engineering biology and share knowledge to help facilitate research advances. Areas of focus include genomics, genomic prediction and precision medicine, cell and gene therapy, biotherapeutics (including bio-manufacturing), smart bio-sensors and bio-electronics, biomaterials and bio-fabrication in line with respective ethical and legal frameworks.

Co-development and evaluation of affordable healthcare measures, including low-cost diagnostics for early detection of important diseases, and novel preventive and therapeutic interventions will also be a priority.

The UK and India will establish a high-level dialogue on advanced materials, to identify specific R&D collaboration on materials/composites and collaboration on research, responsible innovation and standards, as they seek to elevate the lower TRL (Technology Readiness Level) technologies to higher TRL and CRL (Commercial Readiness Level).

They will also collaborate on specific types of materials, such as novel alloys and powders, advanced materials for extreme environments, alongside sustainable materials and manufacturing for transforming foundation industries, such as glass, paper, cements, chemicals, and metals.

–IANS

vd