Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India has transitioned from adopting technologies invented elsewhere to creating them for the world, and urged the country’s scientists and founders to “innovate boldly and lead the world” in building the technologies of the future.
While inaugurating the second edition of the Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC 2026) at Bharat Mandapam, Modi said, “The decades after Independence were spent on catch-up, which means something was invented abroad, reached here years later, we adopted and improvised in small ways. But today’s India is moving ahead with a new way of thinking and a new self-confidence.”
“Our goal now is to build new technology for India and for the world, to set its direction, and to develop the strength to offer solutions to the world’s problems,” Modi said, adding that he met various startup founders and was struck by the scale at which young Indians were thinking. “The confidence with which India’s youth are moving forward is heartening.”
The theme of the three day conclave is, ‘Creative Minds, Catalyzing Science, Empowering Technologies.’ On funding in the ecosystem, Modi said the ₹1 lakh crore of Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund announced from the conclave last year was showing results. He said that about ₹12,000 crore has been committed to technologies, with the private sector investing a matching amount, totalling ₹24,000 crore.
Referring to October 30, the birth anniversary of physicist Homi J Bhabha, Modi said large quantities of nuclear energy would be needed to build a developed India, and called dependence on imported nuclear fuel a challenge to energy security.
Another strength, he said, was the country’s ability to provide “solutions at scale,” pointing to the digital public stack and 5G. “Science and technology has always risked being seen as a weapon, whereas India’s thinking is that science and technology are a means of service to humanity. The real strength of a technology lies in how large a problem it solves and how many lives it changes.”
Modi named semiconductors, quantum technologies, biotechnology, advanced materials, robotics, space, clean energy and next-generation communications as the fields that would shape the future, and said India was building a scientific foundation for them through national missions. Safety and security must be a priority in AI, synthetic biology and autonomous systems, he added. “From nuclear to space, from AI to semiconductors, every sector has different needs. But their message is one: India is increasing both its strength and its confidence in emerging technologies,” Modi said.
