This Conference will be held in person on our Stanford University Campus.
Only register if you are attending the Conference in person.

About the Conference

The inaugural conference of the South Asia Initiative at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) focuses on the role that critical and emerging technologies can play in India’s national security. These technologies promise to deliver enormous advantages as powers like India and China compete for security and influence. India’s ability to deploy critical and emerging technologies will shape not only its military power but also its resilience and self-sufficiency, which the Indian government sees as key national goals in a post-pandemic world. To develop these technologies, India’s national security establishment will need new policy settings – including new relationships with private industry – and new ways of cooperating with key partners, especially the United States.

Our conference will be a unique forum bringing together academic experts, senior policymakers, and leading industry representatives to develop this critical policy agenda. Keynote speeches and panel discussions will contemplate the changing character of national security, the imperatives for public-private cooperation on technology policy, and the implications for national and foreign policy. In keeping with our policy-focused mission, we look forward not only to fostering important dialogues but also to convening problem-solvers with different perspectives, to understand and act on new technologies’ role in strategic competition.

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Conference Agenda

8:30-8:45 a.m.
Opening and Welcome Remarks

Prof. Gi-Wook Shin, Director of Asia-Pacific Research Center and Korea Program, Stanford
Dr. Arzan Tarapore, Research Scholar, Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford

8:45-9:30 a.m.
Keynote address: “Technology’s Role in Managing India’s Security Challenges.”

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Defence Secretary, India
Introduction by Prof. Michael McFaul, Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford

9:30-10:45 a.m.
Panel 1: Redefining the Military’s Relationship with Technology

Moderated by Dr. Arzan Tarapore, Research Scholar, Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford

LtGen Stephen D. Sklenka, Deputy Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
LtGen (ret.) Raj Shukla, ARTRAC
Ms. Kari Bingen, Hawkeye 360
Ms. Heather Richman, BMNT

10:45-11:00 a.m.
Coffee Break

11:00 a.m. -12:15 p.m.
Panel 2: The Way Forward in Defense Innovation

Moderated by Mr. Steve Blank, Adjunct Professor, Management Science and Engineering, Stanford

Mr. Sanjay Jaju, Director iDEX (Virtual)
Mr. Mike Brown, Director DIU
Ms. Colleen Laughlin, Defense Innovation Board
Ms. Lauren Bedula, Silicon Valley Defense Group

12:15-2:00 p.m.
Lunch

Fireside chat: "Looking Forward: Critical and Emerging Technology in the U.S.-India Relationship"

Mr. Jose W. Fernandez, Under-Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment (virtual)
Introduction by Amb. Scot Marciel, Visiting Practitioner Fellow on Southeast Asia, Stanford

Fireside chat: "A New Agenda for US-India Relations"

Amb. Atul Keshap, USIBC (Virtual)
Mr. Vikram Singh, USIP and USISPF

With Dr. Joe Felter, Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, Stanford

2:00-2:15 p.m.
Coffee Break

2:15-3:45 p.m.
Panel 3: Start-Up Success Stories

Moderated by: Sridhar Narayanan, Professor of Marketing, Stanford Graduate School of Business
 

Mr. Vinayak Dalmia, 3rditech
Ms. Vrinda Kapoor, 114AI (Virtual)
Mr. John Martellaro, Skanda Defense
Ms. Jacqueline Tame, GameBreaker AI

3:45-4:00pm
Concluding Remarks

​Breakfast, lunch, and afternoon refreshments will be served at the conference.

Parking information can be found on our Shorenstein APARC Contact Us page.