India
Indo-US S&T ties are likely to stay the course under Trump 2.0 | India News – Times of India
And as Donald Trump prepares to occupy the Oval Office for the second time, India’s science and technology sector expects the bilateral partnership to remain robust, even as it is speculated that leadership change, albeit slightly, could affect the trajectory of this collaboration can change.
Trump takes office as India and the US are significantly expanding their technology cooperation in several critical and emerging sectors, with a particular emphasis on space exploration, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and advanced telecommunications.
For example, Isro and NASA strengthened their space partnership by signing a joint statement in January 2024 to enhance cooperation, including initiatives on the International Space Station. Their most important joint project remains the Nisar Earth observation satellite. Indian astronauts Shubhanshu Shukla and Prashanth Nair are training in the US – the former will go to the ISS for an Axiom Space mission.
The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), launched in January 2023, has enabled broader technology collaboration. The second iCET summit in July 2024 discussed progress in space, semiconductors, AI, quantum computing and clean energy.
The US National Science Foundation and Indian science departments have expanded research partnerships in multiple areas. The September 2023 MoU between the IIT Council and the Association of American Universities established the India-US Global Challenges Institute, which focuses on sustainable energy, health, semiconductors, AI and quantum sciences.
Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Prof AK Sood, told TOI: “I don’t see any major red flags or reason to expect drastic changes in S&T cooperation. These are long-standing national priorities for both countries, and the commitment to improving technological cooperation is likely to continue. The major ongoing projects will continue without significant disruption.”
Former DST Secretary Prof. Ashutosh Sharma called the Indo-US S&T cooperation “very mature” and “well established”, especially in the areas of emerging and critical technologies, and said there is a consensus direction where this cooperation is going.
“…Areas such as quantum technologies, AI, biotechnology and clean energy would likely stay the course regardless of political change. Collaboration in basic and translational research is currently well established,” he said.
Nisha Mendiratta, executive director of the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF), said the long-term collaborations will generally continue. “There may be some shifts in priorities, but fundamental collaboration in providing technological solutions to societal challenges is expected to remain a key focus,” she added.
Space is geopolitical, says Susmita Mohanty, director general of space think tank Spaceport SARABHAI, adding that in this geopolitical game that started in the 1960s, France (CNES) and the Soviet Union/Russia (Roscosmos) have been fighting for more than a year. being friends of India for half a century. .
“The US will take decades to achieve that level of cooperation and heal the negative impact of its 1998 technology sanctions on India. Regardless of who is the US President, Isro-NASA cooperation (e.g. Moon, Mars missions, Nisar) in the 21st century will remain on track. The US needs India for economic and strategic reasons, so there is no turning back. However, ITAR and other regulatory hurdles will continue to limit the scope, scale and speed of Indo-US alignment,” Mohanty said.
She added that if the US is indeed serious about building trust and a long-term relationship with India in the areas of aerospace and defense, the US President should consider elevating India to the status of an “ally”.
