Cooperation on critical and emerging technologies between the QUAD partners allows them to transcend geographical barriers to shape the technological realm of geopolitics. Leveraging trust amongst like-minded partners for a rules-based digital order lies at the heart of this project.

Since its virtual summit in March 2021, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue - QUAD has devoted significant energy to create a Working Group for Critical and Emerging Technology (CET). The establishment of such a framework envisages a spirit of technology operation and governance aligned with the shared interests and values of the four Indo-Pacific partners. The QUAD values trust, openness, accessibility, interoperability and security in the digital domain.

The broad contours of the Working Group on CET involve the articulation of basic principles of technology design, development and use. The mandate of the Working Group is to facilitate coordination on the development of technology standards and kindle cooperation and interoperability in 5G telecommunications. Special emphasis has been put on supplier diversification and Open RAN. The Working Group also endeavours to monitor opportunities in CET including advanced biotechnology.

In the wake of the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, creating robust and resilient supply chains for critical technology is the main area where the thrust of this Working Group lies. Supply chains for hardware, software and services faced various vulnerabilities during the last three years due to over-reliance on China. To insulate their economies from such dependencies, resilient supply chains have become a key agenda among the QUAD partners.

Quad's tech cooperation and syneries 

As far as progress from March 2021 is concerned, the QUAD has developed synergies with international organizations like the International Standards Cooperation Network for setting technology standards. Such efforts are silently aimed to counter Beijing’s increasing primacy in the standard-setting agenda. Beijing has already released a 15-year blueprint to set global technological standards aligned with its interests. China also exercises significant sway in the major global standard-setting organizations.

QUAD’s technological cooperation has progressed in some key areas and has added new areas for potential cooperation. Semiconductors is one area in which QUAD wants to expand. A semiconductor supply chain initiative has been started to monitor capacity, map weaknesses and augment supply-chain security for semiconductors and their components. This initiative strengthens QUAD’s desire for enhancing supply-chain resilience in the region.

Institutional support is also being provided to rope in the private industry to identify opportunities and unleash private sector partnerships. A Quad Investors Network is in the works to unlock access to capital for critical and emerging technologies. The QUAD has also kickstarted cooperation in horizon scanning with a new focus on quantum technologies.

The themes highlighted above have so far been the primary elements of the work being undertaken by the QUAD in the technology domain. These efforts are in response to the history of technology and intellectual property rights thefts involving China. The situation complicates further amidst the broader technological competition playing out between China and its peers. This is why the QUAD’s Working Group on CET becomes a crucial necessity.

Possibilities in emerging technologies 

Going forward, there are many areas worth exploring for collaboration within the QUAD. Artificial Intelligence is one domain where partnership could help counter China’s activities in Asia, especially its use of AI for techno-authoritarian purposes. The QUAD countries also need to reconcile regulatory barriers like their varied national data sharing laws to enhance interoperability and mutual access. All four countries have significant stakes in their economic relations with Beijing and would do well to iron out economic issues conflicting with larger techno-strategic goals.

While having significant individual collaborations with the US, the other three partners need to develop more interlinked research partnerships and investment avenues amongst themselves. Each partner brings their own expertise to the table. Japan in simulation and human-computer interaction, Australia in linguistics and theoretical computer science, India in data mining and data science and the US in machine learning and natural language processing. Experts have also called for the QUAD to build synergies in individual national Science and Technology plans of the four partners through bilateral and multilateral forums.

Another area which holds some promise is privacy-preserving machine learning techniques (PPML) that foster cross-border data-sharing while addressing legitimate privacy concerns. Other techniques which do not raise privacy concerns like synthetic data and advanced simulations can also be collectively explored.

QUAD’s semiconductor initiative will also receive additional firepower by working with regional partners like Taiwan and South Korea along with channelizing investments towards the extraction of key raw materials used in semiconductors like Rare Earth Elements. China’s dominance in this field should result in precipitating extra urgency in this regard. Similarly, the logic of resilient supply chains must also be extended from semiconductors and telecommunications equipment to critical minerals and undersea cables.

Finally, a techno-centric dialogue on monitoring and exploring opportunities in critical and emerging technologies can also be kickstarted under the Quad Plus framework which includes South Korea, Israel, New Zealand, Brazil and Vietnam. Such a dialogue will help in appreciating shared concerns. It will further contribute towards maintaining nimbleness while shaping global technology standards for dynamic areas like critical and emerging technologies.

(The writer is Research Intern/Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi. Views are personal. He can be contacted at vedshinde2002@icloud.com)