India-US joint statement focuses on technologies with many spin-off industries waiting to be developed
Posted on – Wed Jun 28 23 12:45am
Jadeep Chanda
The India-US joint statement of June 22, 2023 made it very clear that technology is the new glue that will hold India-US relations together for some time to come. It covers five of six broad themes — defense, clean energy, the economy, health and technology itself. The last theme is a purely geopolitical one, strategic convergence.
Whether this translates into opportunities for Indian investors and start-ups will still depend on whether Indian authorities can generate confidence in both markets. However, this is not the only responsibility of the authorities – investors and start-ups also need to take risks if they want a piece of the action. Let’s look at the opportunities that emerge from this joint statement.
innovation bridge
At a strategic level, the January 2023 Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) has developed a framework for cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, and wireless telecommunications, and has identified biotechnology, advanced materials, and rare earth processing as emerging technologies . These are represented through “innovation bridges” such as expos, hackathons and pitches. All these industries require highly skilled professionals, and if these tech hubs emerge in India, there could end up being a reverse brain drain, or, if not, at least slowing down the migration of high-tech talent to the US. This immediately presents an opportunity for HR firms to prepare them to manage these professionals.
If implemented, the most impactful part of the statement will be the one on semiconductor development. Most valuable aside from the government-to-government memorandum of understanding, Micron Technology will build an $875 million semiconductor assembly and test facility in India.
So far, apart from the construction of the Vedanta-Foxconn factory in Doleira, Gujarat, other factories have not yet come to fruition as most investors lack a mature node factory as a technology partner. Micron passed the test as the fifth largest semiconductor company in the world. The facility is expected to create 5,000 direct jobs and 15,000 community jobs over the next five years. This initiative, as well as the Vedanta-Foxconn initiative, needs to be fueled by a massive training campaign, and Lam Research’s proposal to train 60,000 Indian engineers through a virtual manufacturing platform is exactly what is needed. This also opens up opportunities in the education and training segment of the industry, and would be a good expansion for established players in the space as well as niche education start-ups.
space cooperation
This announcement of space cooperation, including a flight to the International Space Station in 2024, is timely as the ISS is expected to end its life in 2030. This should excite many space-oriented startups, as a value chain of opportunities emerges throughout space. A key element of this is the establishment of low-cost ground stations throughout the country and surrounding areas. Ground stations are fundamental tools for collecting space data and are the hubs that provide the radio interface between satellites and users for telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) and payload data transmission and reception.
The signing of the Artemis Accords put India firmly in the alliance for human space exploration, including the Moon and Mars, and one can only hope that it puts as much emphasis on the development of the civilian cadre of astronauts as it does using the Air Force to provide the impetus.
The AI aspect of the statement also underscored Google’s intention to support more than 100 Indian languages, which would promote digital inclusion and hopefully serve as a catalyst for vernacular languages. This also presents opportunities for education startups and industry leaders to expand their reach.
telecommunications
For the telecom industry, the uptake of open radio access network technologies and the development of 5G/6G collaborations, including between Bharat 6G and the Next G Alliance in the US, are spaces to watch. The industry benefits from two joint working groups and funding from Advanced Telecommunications and the US International Development Finance Corporation. The scope includes developing common standards, acquiring chipsets and establishing joint R&D projects.
Telford Technology
Finally, India’s nascent defense industry is seeking to be boosted through the US-India Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), a network of universities, start-ups, industry and think tanks to foster joint defense technology innovation and collaboration . Production of advanced defense technologies between the respective industries of the two countries.
Deftech, an industry touted as taking India into a double-digit trillion-dollar economy, had better not miss the bus that can propel companies and startups into the big leagues. Related to this is the security aspect of the technology, as manifested in the U.S. “rip and replace” program, which targets Huawei and ZTE equipment, accused of espionage and thus a threat to national security.
Telcos in Belgium, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden have also been replacing Chinese equipment due to security concerns. As India joins the scheme — which the joint statement did not specify how it will implement — it is sure to irritate China with possible reciprocal measures, which may actually do India more harm than good.
Technology has long been present in India-US relations — both positively and negatively. If we have a civil-military nuclear deal on the positive side, then we also have to deal with technical rejection, as happened to the Kavli engine after the US imposed economic and technical sanctions for its 1988 nuclear test explosion. To be fair, the India-US joint declaration has the potential to boost the Indian economy and create jobs. Whether industries and individuals take the bait remains to be seen.
(The author is an alumnus of Tashashila College and a technology enthusiast)
