This week with NSF Director Panchanathan
Last week, US National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan accompanied National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, and other senior U.S. government officials to participate in the second annual U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) gathering. The iCET meeting featured a high-level bilateral session with the Indian Government followed by a roundtable with prominent Indian and U.S. industry representatives. These events underscore the deepening scientific and technological collaboration between the U.S. and India.
In addition to participating in the iCET meeting, Director Panchanathan met with several senior Indian government leaders to further NSF's collaborations with India, including Jitendra Singh, minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology and minister of the Ministry of Earth Sciences; Abhay Karandikar, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology; Shri S. Krishnan, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Rajesh S. Gokhale, secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences; and Shri V.L. Kantha Rao, secretary of the Ministry of Mines. These conversations highlighted the importance of working together to reduce barriers to joint research efforts, fostering biotechnology innovation and advancing the bioeconomy, tackling pressing environmental challenges, and enhancing cooperation in semiconductors and critical minerals.
The director also met with Ajay Sood, principal scientific advisor, and Ajay Seth, secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance. These meetings emphasized the importance of long-term investment in fundamental research, public-private partnerships, and NSF's commitment to fostering international collaborations that advance discovery and address global issues.
After the meeting, the White House issued a joint fact sheet on the strategic initiatives to bridge the U.S.-India innovation ecosystem. This includes a commitment between NSF and the Indian Department of Science and Technology to invest nearly $5 million to support joint U.S.-India research projects in areas such as next-generation telecommunications, connected and autonomous vehicles and machine learning.