'Innovate Boldly': PM Modi Says India's Technology Push Must Deliver Solutions For Global Challenges

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called on India to move beyond adopting technologies developed elsewhere and emerge as a global leader in innovation, while cautioning that artificial intelligence (AI) must not undermine independent scientific judgement.

Addressing the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave 2026 in New Delhi, Modi said India’s ambition should be to develop technologies for domestic and global needs, identify their future direction and offer solutions to challenges facing the world.

He said the country had moved from a phase of catching up with technological advances to building its own capabilities, citing developments in nuclear energy, space, artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

“India must embrace the technologies of the future, innovate boldly, and lead the world in creating them,” Modi said.

From Adopting Technology To Developing It

The Prime Minister cited India’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, space achievements and advances in emerging technologies as examples of the country’s growing confidence in scientific innovation.

He said India had achieved new milestones in the space sector, including an Indian startup placing a satellite into orbit using a domestically made rocket on its first attempt. He also referred to the country’s achievement of satellite docking capability.

In nuclear energy, Modi highlighted the 500-megawatt Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor achieving first criticality, describing it as a significant step towards strengthening India’s long-term capabilities in the sector.

He also pointed to the launch of an Indian AI model, the arrival of the first shipments of domestically manufactured chips in global markets and efforts to build battery storage capacity using raw materials available within the country.

Modi said India’s technological progress should not be measured solely by how advanced a development is, but by the scale of the problems it addresses and the number of lives it improves.

He cited applications in healthcare, agriculture, education, employment and disaster management as areas where emerging technologies could deliver tangible benefits.

AI And The Challenge Of Scientific Judgement

Modi said AI could accelerate routine research tasks and improve productivity but stressed that scientists must retain responsibility for independently evaluating its outputs.

He noted that scientific judgement develops through experimentation, questioning established patterns and learning from failures. AI, he said, should help researchers tackle more challenging problems rather than restrict independent thinking.

“AI can provide answers quickly. But the responsibility of verifying the truth of those answers must remain with the scientist,” he said.

The Prime Minister also called for greater attention to safety and security in AI, synthetic biology and autonomous systems, including the development of solutions to address cybersecurity threats and strengthen quantum security.

₹24,000 Cr In New R&D Commitments

Highlighting the government’s research push, Modi said nearly ₹12,000 crore had been committed over the past year to technologies ready to move from laboratories to markets. He said private investors had committed an equal amount, taking the total new commitment to ₹24,000 crore.

He also said annual patent applications had increased from fewer than 50,000 a decade ago to nearly 1.5 lakh last year.

Modi urged researchers, industry leaders, startup founders and students to set concrete targets for technologies, prototypes, pilot projects or products they could develop over the next three years.

He said the conclave should go beyond an exchange of ideas and become a platform for measurable outcomes.