The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the constitution of an empowered 'Technology Group' and mandated it to render timely policy advice on the latest technologies.

The cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has decided that the group will have 12 members with the Principal Scientific Adviser to the government as its chair.

The group has been asked to also map technology and technology products, commercialisation of dual-use technologies developed in national laboratories and government R&D organisations, developing an indigenisation road map for selected key technologies, and selection of appropriate R&D programs.

Technology Group has been tasked to ensure:

that India has appropriate policies and strategies for effective, secure and context-sensitive exploitation of the latest technologies for economic growth and sustainable development of Indian Industry, in all sectors;

to advise the Government on priorities and strategies for research on emerging technologies across sectors;

to maintain an updated map of technology and technology products available, and being developed, across India;

to develop indigenization roadmap for selected key technologies;

to advise the Government on its technology supplier and procurement strategy;

to encourage all Ministries and Departments as well as State Governments to develop in-house expertise in policy and use aspects of emerging technologies such as data science and artificial intelligence, and to this end develop an approach to training and capacity building

to formulate policies for sustainability of public sector technology at PSUs/Labs while encouraging cross-sector collaborations and research alliances with Universities and Private Companies; and

to formulate standards and common vocabulary to apply in vetting of proposals for R&D