Announcement: NISR awarded grant funding under the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership

At a joint press conference held on the 5th November in Canberra, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India, announced the awarding of $1.6 million in grant funding under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership (AICCTP). This funding supports six projects, including an initiative by the National Institute of Strategic Resilience (NISR) in collaboration with The Quantum Hub (TQH) - India, focused on advancing equitable Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the Indo-Pacific.

Led by Professor David Watts, the NISR/TQH project will develop a DPI readiness framework to assess digital maturity levels across the Indo-Pacific. This framework is designed to identify high-potential use cases for DPI deployment and establish guiding principles for ethical and inclusive digital transformation, bridging the digital divide and supporting marginalised communities.

Minister Wong emphasised the importance of tech collaboration between Australia and India, stating, “These are great projects on priority areas such as undersea cables, responsible development principles for quantum technologies, and digital public infrastructure.” Her remarks underscore the significance of the Australia-India partnership in fostering innovation and resilience in key technological domains.

Please email: policy@nisr.org.au for more information