UK-India Technology Security Initiative - Anniversary Statement
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-23)

Statement on the one-year anniversary of the landmark UK-India Technology Security Initiative

On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the landmark UK-India Technology Security Initiative (TSI), the UK and India reaffirmed their shared commitment to harness frontier technologies to drive economic growth and strengthen national security.

Both parties welcomed the Initiative’s achievements to date and underscored the transformative potential of the TSI to deliver cutting-edge innovations and generate investment across the entire technology value chain.

The TSI has already enabled industry, academia and government to deliver new strategic opportunities. Over the past year, both sides have:
- Launched a flagship £7 million joint research programme on Future Telecoms in 2024 to support joint Open RAN and 5G/6G testbed development.
- Formalised collaboration between key telecoms lab facilities - India’s Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and the UK’s Smart RAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC) for bilateral collaboration in telecom innovation, testing and emerging technology.
- Accelerated development in responsible and trustworthy AI, including through the first UK-India Conference on AI opportunities, held in Bengaluru in February 2025.
- Completed the successful first phase of the world’s first UK-India Critical Minerals Supply Chain Observatory. Phase Two, supported by £1.8 million of new funding, will deliver the world’s largest digital data infrastructure on the critical minerals value chain and establish a new satellite campus at the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad.
- Strengthened our partnership in FEMTECH – Women-Orientated Health Tech by collaboration between National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
- Initiated several new partnerships between private sector from both sides in the fields of Telecoms, Critical Minerals, Advanced Materials and AI.
To further our strategic collaboration, both sides will:
- Harness together, the benefits of the global AI revolution and boost economic growth through a UK-India joint centre for AI that will promote trusted real world AI innovations and widespread adoption.
- Advance next generation, secure-by-design telecommunications through joint research, development and innovation, strategically collaborating on advanced connectivity and cyber resilience. Establish an India-UK Connectivity and Innovation Centre to pioneer AI-driven telecoms, non-terrestrial networks and secure 5G and 6G. Work together through international fora like ITU and 3GPP for 6G.
- Secure resilient and sustainable critical mineral supply chains to power the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Establish a UK-India Critical Minerals Guild to transform financing standards and innovation. Together, the two sides will prioritise processing, R&D, recycling, managing risk to supply chains, market development etc. and will champion circular economy principles and advance traceability.
- Use the UK-India biotechnology partnership to unlock the potential in biofoundries, bioprinting, biomanufacturing, bio-based materials, advanced biosciences and drive innovation across health, clean energy and sustainable agriculture. Explore the possibility of setting up a UK-India Biotechnology Accelerator.
The UK and India continue to work together across other TSI commitments including the collaboration on Graphene and 2D Materials Technology. In recognition of the TSI’s success, the two leaders agreed to expand the TSI into new frontier domains, particularly to unlock engagement on futuristic, secure and strategic technologies. This expansion will further align UK and Indian national security priorities and unlock new opportunities for industry and researchers.

Both parties called on industry, including start-ups and academia to further catalyse the UK-India technology partnership and to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the TSI.