shutterstock_599147537 Courtesy: Shutterstock
23 July 2020

India readies for digital manufacturing

The world is experiencing two simultaneous transformations: a decoupling from China and the building of an alternate supply chain, and the creation of new, cutting-edge industrial process called digital manufacturing. It is part of the larger wave of Industry 4.0, an integration of industrial processes with the Internet of Things. India already has some of the key elements in place, and some successes to build on.

BF_Final Courtesy: Uday Deb/Times of India
12 July 2020

Chinese 5G: Kiss of death

After the strategic digital pushback against Chinese investments and apps, India should turn its attention to the biggest Chinese domination tool – 5G. This is the mother lode that enables the efficient gathering of data, which when mined, results in product enhancement and pricing benefits to products listed in China 2025 and helps China set global standards. There is an urgency for alternate suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China.

shutterstock_1659219964 Courtesy: Shutterstock
21 May 2020

Digital services across verticals: Jio, Alibaba and Amazon

Recent investments by Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton and Intel Capital could well be the infusion of capital and expertise Jio needs to compete with Alibaba and Amazon. The infographic compares the number of services offered by these companies across different technology domains

shutterstock_730156222 Courtesy: Shutterstock
16 January 2020

NEST-ling new tech in foreign policy

The recently announced New and Emerging Strategic Technologies (NEST) Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs is timely. It can become vital for India’s national technosecurity in the imminent Fourth Industrial Age if a new Cabinet Committee on Futuristic Science and Technologies is established along with it

shutterstock_167012954 Courtesy: Shutterstock
9 January 2020

Digital Natives’ protest goes offline

The current wave of protests sweeping India and the government’s suspension of internet services to impede communication has led to innovation. Protesters have taken recourse to offline messaging applications to escape detection while executing their plans. This infographic tracks the evolution of online media – from the basic to the more discreet

shutterstock_1023930217 Courtesy: Shutterstock
22 August 2019

The Telegram phenomenon

The tool used to sustain and coordinate protests is a young, encrypted messaging service called Telegram. Its unique privacy and security features and resistance to the state has made Telegram more popular than its larger rivals, WhatsApp and WeChat. What is this communication phenomenon?

NTNU_blacksmokers_800x300 Courtesy: NTNU
22 November 2018

Oceanic Industry 4.0

The emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution depends on the availability of rare- earth minerals, which occur extensively on the ocean floor of the Indo-Pacific. The technology to exploit this is available only to some countries currently: the global agreement on this must be fair and safeguard India’s future interests, says the author of this blog

so18_cover_large_0 Courtesy: Foreign Affairs
1 October 2018

Battlefield Internet

The immediate threat is more corrosive than explosive. States are using the tools of cyberwarfare to undermine the very foundation of the Internet: trust. The result is that an arena that the world relies on for economic and informational exchange has turned into an active battlefield.

US Space Force Courtesy: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
19 July 2018

U.S. Space Force: reconfiguring military for space

Washington is planning to integrate its military space operations. Each arm of the United States Armed Forces has had a space command until now but uniting these discrete units into a new Space Force is a step ahead. The U.S.’ big-picture ambition is ‘full spectrum battle-space dominance’ and the contest to achieve it has implications for the defence and space industry

download (1) Courtesy: Caixin Global
5 July 2018

China’s disquieting FDI in high-tech

China’s foreign direct investment is shifting away from natural resources to high-tech areas, such as Artificial Intelligence and robotics. The scale of these acquisitions, along with questions about intellectual property and national security, are causing widespread concern in the West