Transformational Technologies and U.S. India Science and Technology Cooperation

The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) is conducting a 10-month long project on US – India Relations: Change, Continuity and Transformation. This project is supported by the US Consulate General, Chennai, Public Affairs Section, and aims to study the US – India partnership across four focus areas – i) US-India Partners in Global Climate Action, ii) Indo-Pacific Strategy: Reimagining the Maritime Outlook, iii) US-India Trade Relations: To the Next Level, and iv) US-India Science and Technology Cooperation. The project aims to prepare a platform for conducting informed discussions and sharing concrete and actionable policy recommendations for private and government functionaries from India and the United States on the focus areas.

To that effect, CPPR has conducted four webinars on the selected topics with the participation of subject matter experts from the two countries. The fourth and final webinar was hosted on March 24th, 2022, and was titled ‘Transformational Technologies and U.S. – India Science and Technology Cooperation’, addressing the Science & Technology focus area. The speakers for the webinar were Mr. Jay Gullish – Executive Director of Digital Policy at the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), and Dr. Nandini Kannan – Executive Director at the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF). Jay Gullish is the executive director, digital policy at the U.S. – India Business Council. He has passionately promoted digital development in more than 20 countries over his 25 years of experience in government, industry, and civil society across the telecoms, information technology, satcom, and cyber sectors.Most recently, he served as a digital policy officer at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi covering cyber policy, telecommunications, information technology, digital inclusion, and commercial space. While at the Embassy, he aligned U.S. cyber policy towards India across multiple in-country USG agencies and consulates. He was also the in-country lead for the U.S.-India ICT Working Group and the U.S.-India Cyber Consultations. Jay Gullish has previously worked in India’s outsourcing industry, and lived and worked in India for over five years. He has international technology experience in southern Africa, Israel, and Vietnam. Dr. Nandini Kannan is Executive Director of the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum. She has leadership experience in academia and government, with an understanding of the critical role that science and technology play in this global interconnected society, and a deep commitment to education and workforce development. Since 2014, she has served as a Program Director at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) where her responsibilities included core disciplinary research, mathematical sciences research institutes, and workforce development programs in the Division of Mathematical Sciences as well as a number of cross-directorate and cross-agency activities. She has served as a co-chair for several Data Science related activities in support of Harnessing the Data Revolution, one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas. Dr. Kannan also helped to create partnerships with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support collaborative efforts in biomedical data science. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Statistical Association (ASA) and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.

Click here to read Issue Brief: Transformational Technologies and U.S. India Science and Technology Cooperation

Watch the Event Video Recording, here.