Knowledge Nugget | Understanding the Readiness for Frontier Technologies Index — A must-know for UPSC Exam

Why in the news?

The 2025 Technology and Innovation Report, issued by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), stated that India ranked 36th in 2024 on the ‘Readiness for Frontier Technologies’ index, improving its position from 48th in 2022.

Key Takeaways :

1. In a world rapidly reshaped by AI and other frontier technologies, it is crucial for developing countries to prepare themselves for these new developments. In this context, a useful measure in assessing national preparedness to use, adopt, and adapt frontier technologies is the UNCTAD Frontier Technologies Readiness Index.

2. The ‘Readiness for Frontier Technologies’ index combines indicators for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) deployment, skills, research and development (R&D) activity, industrial capacity, and access to finance.

3. India ranks 99th for ICT, 113th for skills, 3rd for R&D, 10th for industrial capacity, and 70th for finance.

4. The United States leads the world in terms of private investment in AI. The only developing countries with significant investments were China in second position and India in tenth position.

5. The report noted that Brazil, China, India, and the Philippines are developing countries outperforming in technology readiness. Bhutan, India, Morocco, the Republic of Moldova, and Timor-Leste improved their positions in human capital due to more years of schooling and a greater share of high-skill employment in their working populations, the report said.

What are Frontier Technologies?

According to the United Nations Climate Change website, “Frontier technology can be defined as technology that will reshape industry and communications and provide urgently needed solutions to global challenges like climate change and have the potential to displace existing processes.” This type of technology encompasses a range of technologies, including blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Virtual Reality (VR).

After understanding what frontier technologies mean, here’s a brief guide to such technologies:

📍Blockchain Technology: Also known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT),  Blockchain technology, is an emerging technology that ensures immutability, transparency, and security of digital assets through decentralization.

•  It operates on a system of data blocks, where each block is connected to the next using cryptographic techniques, forming a “chain” of blocks. The data within these blocks, once recorded, cannot be altered or deleted without consensus from the network. This decentralised and distributed structure makes blockchain resistant to hacking, as altering a single block would require simultaneous changes across the entire network.

📍Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are among the fastest evolving technologies in the world owing to the many use cases they present. VR typically refers to replacing reality with a completely virtual environment. It creates immersive experiences that engage multiple senses, tricking the brain into believing the user is actually there. AR refers to layering virtual components into a reality environment.

📍Internet of Things or, more accurately the internet of devices, is all about connecting devices over the internet and letting them ‘talk’ to us, applications and each other. This allows huge amounts of data to be collected and transferred, which can then be used for multiple practical purposes. However, Internet of Things doesn’t necessarily have to be connected to the internet, it can also be a network of things.

• A common example are wristwatches with sensors that can track the wearers’ heartbeat and pass on the information to our smartphones via bluetooth. The smartphone can store that data on cloud after which it can be accessed at any point of time to view a report card of how your heart has been behaving for over a period of a week or a month.

📍Quantum Technology is often used as an umbrella term for the technological advancements that are specifically governed by the principles of quantum mechanics at its core. It involves developing necessary hardware, software, algorithms, and protocols for design and development of quantum computing devices like quantum computers.

• This technology exploits the principles of quantum mechanics, which include superposition, quantum entanglement, and interference to achieve greater efficiency in large-scale computations.

📍3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a process that uses computer-created design to make three-dimensional objects layer by layer. It is an additive process, in which layers of a material like plastic, composites or bio-materials are built up to construct objects that range in shape, size, rigidity and colour.  3D printing is being used in a host of different industries like healthcare, automobile and aerospace.

📍Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of machines, especially computers, to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include things like understanding language, recognising patterns, solving problems, and making decisions. AI can be classified into two types: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) also known as weak AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) also referred to as strong AI.

• ANI is designed for specific tasks and excels within a narrow domain. Examples include virtual assistants like Siri, recommendation systems on platforms like Netflix, and image recognition software. ANI systems are highly specialised and cannot transfer their expertise to unrelated tasks.

• In contrast, AGI aims to replicate human cognitive abilities, enabling it to perform any intellectual task a human can do. AGI would possess general reasoning skills, understand context, and adapt to new situations across various domains. It would be capable of autonomous learning and problem-solving without requiring task-specific programming.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech Hub (NITI-FTH)

1. In the context of frontier technologies knowing about the NITI Aayog’s Frontier Tech Hub (NITI-FTH) is essential. Notably, to accelerate India’s transition into a frontier tech nation, NITI-FTH has been established as a frontier tech action tank.

2. The key objectives of NITI-FTH are:

• Enabling India’s Readiness to advance Frontier Tech Innovation and Use for Accelerated Economic and Societal Development towards Viksit Bharat.

• Championing India’s Human-Centric Approach worldwide by advancing development and adoption of emerging technologies that benefit humanity and the environment.

3. NITI-FTH will engage with experts across Industry, Academia and Government to create a deeper understanding of the tech trends early and their implications on India. It will also come out with action plans and recommendations to drive India’s readiness.

Post Read Questions

(1) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

3. Disease diagnosis

4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(c) 2, 4 and 5 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

(2) With reference to “Blockchain Technology”, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. It is a public ledger that everyone can inspect, but which no single user controls.

2. The structure and design of blockchain is such that all the data in it are about cryptocurrency only.

3. Applications that depend on basic features of blockchain can be developed without anybody’s permission.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 1 and 3 only

(3) Which one of the following is the context in which the term “qubit” is mentioned? (UPSC CSE 2022)

(a) Cloud Services

(b) Quantum Computing

(c) Visible Light Communication Technologies

(d) Wireless Communication Technologies

(Sources: blockchain.gov.in, India ranks 36 out of 170 nations on readiness for frontier technologies global, Knowledge nugget of the day: Generation Beta)

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