Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood chaired the 4th Technology Advisory Group (TAG) meeting of the Empowered Technology Group (ETG), convened on 10 July 2026 to deliberate on a strategic roadmap for strengthening India's telecom innovation ecosystem and the establishment of a dedicated “Communication Technology Task Force”. In his opening remarks, Prof. Sood highlighted telecom technologies as the foundation of India's digital economy and emphasised the need to strengthen indigenous capabilities across research, standards, intellectual property, manufacturing, and commercialisation to build technological leadership, accelerate innovation, and reduce critical dependencies. In her concluding remarks, Dr (Mrs.) Parvinder Maini highlighted the need to build capabilities in strategic layers of the telecom technology stack and emphasised the importance of a whole-of-ecosystem approach. She also underscored the need for a dedicated “Communication Technology Task Force” to provide strategic direction, strengthen ecosystem-wide coordination, and accelerate India's leadership in next-generation communication technologies. The meeting focused on identifying priority technology domains in the telecom ecosystem and designing dedicated interventions to enhance India's capabilities in next-generation communication technologies, telecom semiconductors, standards development, intellectual property, advanced manufacturing, and commercialisation. The deliberations brought together TAG and ETG members, senior government officials, leading academicians, industry leaders, startups, and standards organisations to define a coordinated strategy for building a future-ready and globally competitive telecom ecosystem. The meeting also featured expert presentations on key priority areas, including 6G, AI-native networks, telecom semiconductors, Non-Terrestrial Networks, standards and Standard Essential Patents, indigenous product development, and commercialisation. Read the full press release: https://lnkd.in/gmuNdcQW Dr. Preeti Banzal | Rohit Gupta