The VIF under the S&T series organised a talk on “Semiconductor Technology: A Perspective on the Future of Intelligent Systems” by Prof Manan Suri, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi on 23 November 2023. Prof Suri’s talk focussed on the next generation of semiconductor memory technology while touching on some of the case studies. While highlighting his research journey in this field so far, he provided his perspective on the present and future of semiconductor technology.

As a part of Science and Technology (S&T) series, the VIF organised a talk by Shri Virat Bhatia, Managing Director, Apple India, who spoke on “Electronics, Trade and Geopolitics” at the VIF on 21 September 2023. The talk was followed by a discussion with government officials and strategic community. In his opening remarks, Director, Dr. Arvind Gupta underscored the growing significance of electronics, trade and the ongoing geopolitics around these. Currently, from decoupling to de-risking is taking place which reflects the changing world order where geopolitics comes in.

In a highly competitive international defence market, India has recently made its mark and has huge opportunity to become a significant player. India’s defence exports have reached to an all-time high of approximately ₹16,000crore (US $ 1.94 billion) in the FY 2022-2023, a notable ten-fold increase from the FY 2016–17, when exports were merely ₹1,521 crore (US $ 184.59 million). This is a significant step towards India’s stated goal of exporting ₹35,000 crore (US $ 5 billion) worth of aerospace and defence equipment annually by 2025 and becoming a net defence exporter.

On 20 July 2023, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized an interaction with the visiting US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) delegation, which was led by President and CEO, Dr Mukesh Aghi. The interaction covered a wide range of bilateral issues, especially focused on the recent developments in the areas of critical and emerging technologies under the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) framework.