Panel: Guardians of Galaxy: Space Security Norms and Partnerships

Space assets serve both civilian and military purposes, making them dual-use technologies. While they bring significant benefits, they can also be exploited for hostile activities. As space technologies become integral to statecraft and national security, the rise of Astropolitics—the geopolitical contest in space—has escalated the risk of conflicts, threatening space security. The rapid commercialization of space has introduced new actors, including private sector, driving innovation but also introducing new security challenges. These tech advancements have outpaced existing international space laws, creating uncertainties around the legality of many space activities. As a result, it is imperative for nations to collaborate on information-sharing, develop modern space norms, and build technologies that promote responsible behavior in space. Ensuring that space remains secure and sustainable for future generations requires a collective approach, leading countries to emphasize space security in their policies, bilateral partnerships, and multilateral engagements.

Conversation: DPI and Climate Change

Talk: DPI in Action

Digital Public Infrastructure is revolutionizing public services and creating economic opportunities globally, particularly in Global South countries. Aadhaar and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have created seamless digital ecosystems for India—which successfully highlighted DPI during its G20 presidency. Nigeria has leveraged digital identity and payment systems and looks to build data exchanges next, Malawi is deploying DPI-as-a-packaged-Solution (Daas) on a pilot G2P project for post-disaster social support payments, Papua New Guinea is expanding digital connectivity despite cybersecurity vulnerabilities, Morocco has displayed digital transformation of administrative and educational services, while countries like Dominican Republic have committed to the UNDP led 50-in-5 campaign. However, challenges in DPI adoption remain—from data privacy concerns and cross-border information flows to uneven adoption and technical interoperability issues that may widen existing divides.

Panel: DPI in Action

Panel: India’s Approach to Data Governance

The recent draft rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 provide a framework towards a more accountable digital ecosystem – through transparency in data processing, mechanisms for protecting individual data rights, and data breach notifications. Further, consent managers could help manage personal information, and age-gating mechanisms are geared toward restricting children’s access to harmful content. However, the framework presents complex challenges – age gating requires sophisticated technological implementation, businesses lack clarity over the timeline of notifications of rules, and ambiguity looms large over conditions for international data flows to be specified by the government.

Panel: DPI: The New Marketplace

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has had a transformational effect on economies across the globe, improving financial inclusion, governance, and public service delivery—as leading examples, India’s UPI and Brazil’s PIX have revolutionized digital payments, and Estonia’s X-Road enabling seamless and secure data sharing between government and private sector. Despite these successes, early private sector engagement with DPI remained limited—unclear value propositions and monetization opportunities, regulatory uncertainty, and the perception that DPI primarily served government functions made businesses hesitant to invest. However, the market sentiment is beginning to change as market players have begun identifying the innovation potential that DPIs can unlock. Several global technology firms like Microsoft, Google, and AWS recognize DPI as a driver of new markets, cost efficiencies, and cross-border scalability. Conversely, private sector participation in DPIs will be crucial for allowing rapid scalability for DPIs with cost-efficiencies.

Keynote Address by S. Krishnan

Panel: India’s AI Summit: The Road Ahead

India prepares to host the next AI Summit in late 2025/early 2026, following the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley (2023), the AI Seoul Summit (2024), and the AI Action Summit in Paris, which India co-hosted with France. The meeting in Paris widened the summit's focus beyond AI safety issues to include public interest AI, the future of work, innovation, and global AI governance—and its concluding Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable AI was signed by about 60 countries, including India, China, and the EU yet the US, a leading AI superpower, abstained, prioritizing innovation and warning that regulations slow innovation. As a growing leader for the Majority World, India called for democratizing AI technology and developing people-centric AI applications.

Panel: Powering AI: Sustainable Futures

As AI continues to transform industries—from healthcare and finance to smart cities and autonomous vehicles—it has become heavily reliant on powerful data centres and computational infrastructure. Currently, many of these AI applications are powered by conventional energy sources like fossil fuels, leading to significant carbon footprints and environmental challenges. Looking ahead, advances in machine learning, big data analytics, and neural networks will require even-greater computational power. This surge in demand invokes the urgent need to transition to green data centres, adopt cleaner and renewable energy sources to power AI applications, and explore innovative solutions such as edge computing wherever possible.

Marquee Panel: ‘Sambhavna’: Next Is What?

Geopolitics today is defined by intensifying rivalries, shifting alliances, and emerging technological and economic power plays. Trump’s evolving stance on Russia has reopened diplomatic channels between Washington and Moscow but has strained U.S.-Europe relations, pushing the EU toward greater strategic autonomy. At the same time, China is leveraging transatlantic tensions to deepen ties with Europe, signalling a broader realignment of global alliances. The Trump administration’s new tariffs may boost U.S. manufacturing but do not eliminate dependence on global supply chains, particularly for rare earths, semiconductors, and green energy materials. With China dominating rare earth production, the U.S. is turning to alternative suppliers like Australia, Canada, Vietnam, and Brazil. Meanwhile, India is pursuing a multifaceted geopolitical strategy—strengthening EU ties, managing trade tensions with the U.S., maintaining strategic autonomy, enhancing defence capabilities, and expanding partnerships in Central Europe.