Why in News? As tensions between Israel and Iran grew, U.S. NSA cancelled his plan to travel to Delhi for an annual review of the India-U.S. initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). 

What is iCET? It is a framework agreed upon by India and the U.S. for cooperation on critical and emerging technologies in areas including AI, quantum computing, semiconductors and wireless telecommunication. It was first announced by the PM of India and the US President on the sidelines of the Quad meeting in Tokyo in 2022. It was launched in 2023 to strengthen the strategic partnership and drive technology and defence cooperation between India and US.

What are the Focus Areas of the Initiative? Primarily, the iCET seeks to position New Delhi and Washington D.C. as trusted technology partners to build supply chains and support the co-production and co-development of items. Areas that iCET intends to explore include -

• Developing common standards in AI,
• Developing ‘innovation bridge’ to connect defence startups;
• Supporting the development of a semiconductor ecosystem;
• Strengthening cooperation on human spaceflight;
• Advancing cooperation on development in 5G and 6G; and
• Adopting OpenRAN network technology in India.

What has been the Progress so Far? The two countries have already put in place the Quantum Coordination Mechanism and launched a public-private dialogue (PDD) on telecommunication to drive collaboration in OpenRAN, 5G and 6G. Both signed an MoU on establishing a semiconductor supply chain. On the defence front, the two countries are close to concluding a mega jet engine deal and a new initiative known as the India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X).