A Framework for Identifying Critical Technologies

Published May 20, 2024

Executive Summary

In the past few years, several countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, the EU, and the United Kingdom have announced lists of technologies they deem critical for their national interests. These lists are a public signal of governmental priorities and will potentially shape their policy direction.

Critical technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, biotechnologies, etc, and the criteria for identifying them as “critical” are national security, economic prosperity, and social cohesion. Yet, even as more such lists become publicly known, there is little clarity on what exactly is a “critical technology” and what governmental action it should elicit. This paper proposes a framework to identify critical technologies and drive further public policy actions from an Indian perspective.

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