The Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (OPSA) hosted an international knowledge exchange on Technology Foresight today (27 November 2024), with relevant organisations from Australia. This knowledge partnership with OPSA was facilitated through the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, and was joined by 27 participants including domain experts and practitioners from both sides.

This knowledge exchange brought together a set of experts, scholars and practitioners to share their insights and expertise on foresight approaches, tools and techniques for critical technologies with a special focus on biotechnology, energy, health, and urban development sectors.

(Principal Scientific Adviser, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood (left), and Acting High Commissioner, Australian High Commission in India, Ms. Carly Partridge (second from right) delivering opening remarks)

 

Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, in his opening address, spoke about the important role of technology foresight in science advice activities and highlighted initiatives of the Office of PSA in strategic planning and in public policy. Ms.Carly Partridge, Acting High Commissioner, Australian High Commission in India, in her opening address, talked about the significance of this bilateral engagement with India in methodological approaches to technology foresight. Ms. Partridge also stressed the role of tech foresight tools and practices in aiding the Australian government in identifying the strengths and vulnerabilities related to critical technologies.

(Presentation by speakers from Australian organisations -
ASPI team joining from Canberra (right) and Dr. Rebacca and team joining from Australian High Commission (left))

 

Dr. Jenny Wong Leung, Senior Analyst, Data Science and Critical Tech Lead at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) along with her colleagues Mr. Bart Hogeveen, Deputy Director - Cyber, Technology & Security and Mr. Stephan Robin, Data Scientist discussed the methodology of the ASPI Critical Technology Tracker (https://techtracker.aspi.org.au/). Dr. Jenny detailed the indicators used in building this tracker and its special features including talent (human resource) tracker and technology monopoly risk assessment.

Dr. Rebecca Doolan, Manager, North Asia Section in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources spoke about the role of foresight in formulating Australia’s list of critical technologies in the national interest (https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/list-critical-technologies-national-interest). Dr. Rebecca also highlighted the efforts carried out through the QUAD subgroup on horizon scanning, and the use of tech foresight capability in identifying areas of interests for international partnerships.

(Presentation by speakers from Indian organisations -

(top left) Dr. Ravi B. Grover - Member of the Atomic Energy Commission spoke on the theme of clean energy; (top right) Dr. Sumit Goswami - Director of Planning & Coordination at the DRDO spoke on the theme of defence technologies; (bottom left) Dr. Kavitha Rajsekar - Senior Scientist, ICMR spoke on health technology assessment; (bottom right) Prof. Krishna Kumar Balaraman - Associate Professor, Centre for Technology Foresight and Policy, IIT Jodhpur spoke on urban futures)

 

Dr. Ravi B. Grover, Member of the Atomic Energy Commission and Former Principal Adviser at the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) stressed the importance of scenario building exercises for future technology applications and the need for foresight tools to leverage a combination of existing technologies. Dr. Sumit Goswami, Director of Planning & Coordination at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spoke about the efforts of DRDO in scouting R&D talent through the Young Scientist Laboratory program and the mandate of developing futuristic defence technology across 75 Technology Priority Areas (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1935686). Dr. Kavitha Rajsekar, Senior Scientist from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) discussed the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) framework and its applications. Prof. Krishna Kumar Balaraman from the Centre for Technology Foresight and Policy, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur presented on foresight for urban futures, discussing the importance of experts from multi-disciplinary fields for scenario building exercises. Prof. Krishna highlighted the use of a methodology approach employing systems framework and dynamic system modelling.

(Knowledge Exchange session underway)

 

The forum saw valuable discussion and interaction among the participants. The meeting concluded with a summary note on key insights and expression of interest from both sides on deepening this engagement further.

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MJPS/ST

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