Latest news with #ThousandTalentsPlan
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
India must build a stronger framework for scientific talent
Last December, China unveiled images of its prototype sixth-generation fighter jets, sending ripples across global defence circles. Weeks later, its home-grown DeepSeek AI matched OpenAI's GPT-4 on international benchmarks. These milestones are not isolated achievements. They represent the momentum of a country that has been investing deeply and consistently in scientific talent and ecosystems. Among the early accelerators of this momentum was its 'Thousand Talents Plan', launched in 2008 to bring leading global researchers into Chinese institutions, though it later drew scrutiny, particularly from the West on issues of transparency and intellectual property. However, it demonstrated how talent strategies, when backed by long-term vision, can influence a nation's scientific trajectory. China's progress is also the result of parallel investments in research infrastructure and coordinated doctoral training. Its leading universities now routinely appear higher in global rankings. India, too, has reason for confidence. Its scientists are globally respected. Our institutions have trained generations of high-impact researchers, many of whom now lead labs, departments, and innovation hubs across the world. National missions in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and biotechnology reflect India's growing strategic focus on frontier science. Yet to translate this momentum into long-term leadership, the country needs a sharper framework for scientific talent, one that helps India not just retain but also actively attract and integrate the world's best minds. This cannot be achieved through incremental initiatives or those in silos. It calls for distributed ambition and the ability to act decisively, across institutions, disciplines, and borders. Talent zones A good starting point could be to designate select cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, having a high density of research and industrial institutions, as science talent zones. Within these zones, participating universities and research centres could be enabled to hire global faculty, initiate joint labs, and offer co-supervised Ph.D.s with international partners, using fast-track, peer-reviewed processes. Institutions such as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Seoul National University in South Korea have demonstrated how institutional agility and targeted hiring can rapidly elevate research output and visibility. India needs to rethink how long-term scientific careers are structured. Institutions should be encouraged to establish global tenure tracks, open to both Indian-origin and international scientists. These could be evaluated through international peer review and tied to performance in research, mentorship, or innovation. Models such as Tel Aviv University's diaspora-led faculty recruitment drive could be looked for inspiration. Talent relocation, particularly at the mid-career or senior level, depends on much more than funding. Institutions would need to be supported through outcome-linked incentives to build their own onboarding systems for housing, schooling, lab infrastructure, and spousal employment. This is essential to encourage relocation. To sustain momentum, the existing national missions could go further by embedding convergence science tracks within their architecture. The future of innovation lies at the interface of disciplines. AI for new materials, quantum sensing for climate resilience, or genomics for agricultural adaptation all require teams that span traditional departments and even institutions. Internationally, convergence institutes are being created that assemble such teams by design. India's missions can support similar efforts by enabling proposals that cross scientific domains and are reviewed by interdisciplinary panels. The private sector could also be encouraged to jointly co-invest in specific projects, with the incentive architectures built-in for them to also reap benefits. India must also streamline entry. A global science residency card, tied to institutional affiliation and academic review, could offer five-year residency with the option of permanent settlement. Authorised institutions, especially those participating in national missions, could be given the discretion to fast-track eligible candidates and remove procedural delays. Finally, engagement with India's vast scientific diaspora must evolve from episodic outreach to structured collaboration. Peer networks, virtual sabbaticals, co-supervised doctoral programmes, and shared research infrastructure can keep overseas scientists meaningfully connected to India's knowledge ecosystem, without necessarily requiring relocation. Countries such as Israel have shown how alumni-driven platforms can support returning researchers with professional and personal transitions, building long-term loyalty and exchange. None of these steps require large new structures. What they demand is coordination, clarity, and a shift in posture, specifically institutional empowerment. India already has the raw ingredients, including good scientists, increasingly capable universities, and national missions aligned with long-term goals. What we now need is a system that makes it easy for talent to arrive, thrive, and lead. The global race for scientific leadership is no longer just about infrastructure or capital. It is about people. Nations that succeed will be those that build environments where the most ambitious minds want to belong. India has the opportunity to be one, however it must act with clarity, ambition as well as urgency. Swapan Bhattacharya is the Director of TCG CREST (Deemed to be University), Kolkata; views expressed are personal.
The Print
23-07-2025
- The Print
US says Chinese-origin engineer confessed to espionage, ‘stole' missile detection tech blueprints
According to the US Department Of Justice, Gong admitted to unlawfully transferring over 3,600 proprietary files from a California-based research and development firm specialising in advanced infrared missile detection systems. According to the statement, Chenguang Gong, aged 59, confessed to 'stealing trade secret technologies developed for use by the US government to detect nuclear missile launches, track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, and to allow US fighter planes to detect and evade heat-seeking missiles'. Gong, whom the Office of Public Affairs of the US Department Of Justice described as ' a dual citizen of the United States and China ,' is scheduled to be sentenced on 29 September. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years. New Delhi: An engineer of Chinese origin living in the US has pleaded guilty to stealing highly sensitive military technology related to US missile detection systems, the US Department of Justice said in a press statement released on 21 July. The statement said the stolen material included classified blueprints and schematics used in space-based systems capable of detecting nuclear and hypersonic missile launches, as well as infrared sensors for military aircraft designed to evade heat-seeking missiles. Gong, a former engineer at an unnamed Southern California company, was employed for less than a month in early 2023 before being terminated. During his tenure, he allegedly downloaded thousands of files marked 'Proprietary Information', 'For Official Use Only', and 'Export Controlled' on his personal storage devices. The stolen files were later recovered from Gong's residence in California, the Department of Justice said. Among the compromised materials were detailed designs for mechanical assemblies used to cryogenically cool sensitive equipment, as well as blueprints for next-generation sensors with the ability to detect low-observable threats in space. The stolen intellectual property was estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the US Justice Department estimated the total intended economic loss exceeds $3.5 million, the statement added. Also Read: Trump says 'deal is done', China to remove curbs on exports of critical minerals to US Role of China's 'talent programmes' Further investigation also revealed that Gong had longstanding ties to the Chinese government's controversial 'talent programmes'. These are initiatives that recruit global experts to contribute to China's technological and military development. The Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2008, was originally designed to address China's brain drain which saw an exodus of top Chinese researchers and scholars to countries like the US, Canada, and the UK. Initiated by Li Yuanchao, a former member of the CCP Politburo, the programme aimed to foster an 'innovative society' rather than facilitate the theft of US technology. However, over time, the TTP has raised serious concerns within the US government over its potential role in intellectual property theft and the unauthorised transfer of sensitive technologies. A 2019 US Senate report revealed that some participants were required to prioritise Chinese interests and share research developed abroad. Authorities in the US and Australia have tied these programmes to corporate espionage, with cases of unauthorized tech transfers and IP theft reported by partner firms, especially in sectors like Artificial Intelligence, biotech, and aerospace. Between 2014 and 2022, Gong submitted multiple applications to these programmes while working at major US tech firms. In one 2014 proposal, Gong offered to develop high-performance analog-to-digital converters similar to those produced by his US employer and emphasised their military utility for radar and missile systems. He later proposed developing low-light image sensors for military-grade night vision goggles and included information about equipment developed by a major defence contractor he had previously worked for, the Department of Justice statement said. In a 2019 email, he acknowledged the risks of participating in the talent programme, writing that he 'took a risk' by traveling to China while employed by an American defence contractor, but believed he could 'contribute to China's high-end military integrated circuits'. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: China's Brahmaputra dam is also a military asset. It raises alarm for India
India Today
03-07-2025
- Business
- India Today
Is India's Rs 1 trillion RDI scheme inspired by China's Thousand Talents Plan? Not quite
In order to revitalise India's R&D ecosystem, the government has cleared the Rs 1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme. The policy aims to inject much-needed capital into deep-tech sectors and strategic industries, primarily by offering startups and private players long-tenure, low-interest loans and equity details of the initiative emerged, comparisons began to surface. Most notably with China's controversial Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) (launched in 2008). That programme was Beijing's ambitious bid to bring home its brightest minds from across the globe. So, is India now trying to emulate China's Plan?advertisementNot quite. And the difference is more than cosmetic. 'The Rs. 1-trillion RDI scheme is a welcome move, but it's not cut from the same cloth as China's Thousand Talents Plan,' says Srinath Sridharan, Corporate Advisor & Independent Director on Corporate Boards. 'It's a financial intervention, not a people strategy.'China's TTP was designed with the aim of reversing brain drain. It dangled lucrative incentives, including research autonomy, leadership posts, lab funding, and generous salaries, to draw back Chinese-origin scientists, engineers, and tech entrepreneurs from elite institutions programme placed many of them directly into leadership roles in high-tech firms, especially in fields like AI, genomics, and quantum new scheme, by contrast, takes a different tack. There's no direct outreach to diaspora talent. No talk of any central mechanism to attract returning scientists. No coordinated effort is being made to fast-track them into institutions or give them decision-making authority in national R&D not about repatriating talent,' Sridharan argues. It's about unlocking capital to stimulate innovation at home. That's a fundamentally different design.'TWO MODELS, TWO MINDSETSWhere China's approach was centrally planned and state-directed, India's RDI scheme is built around market forces. The expectation is that funding will enable private players to take more risks in R&D-heavy companies (aka the sunrise sectors) — health tech, semiconductors, green energy — areas where returns are uncertain and therein lies the rub.'Innovation doesn't emerge from capital alone,' Sridharan cautions. 'It needs minds... motivated, skilled, and empowered minds.'For India to consider shifting from brain drain to brain gain, we need more than just a funding mechanism. What's missing (and much-needed) is a long-term vision that connects all three: talent, infrastructure, and does one get there? First, by creating globally competitive research institutions with operational autonomy; second, ensuring urban ecosystems that can support the lifestyle, career, and educational expectations of those returning scientists; third, cutting the red tape that may end up slowing down or stifling scientific exploration; and above all, articulating a clear national innovation agenda with SUCCESS AND FALLOUTIt is true that China's TTP came with serious baggage. On the one hand, the Plan succeeded in attracting thousands of top-tier researchers and repositioned Beijing as a serious tech player. But it also triggered geopolitical concerns, especially in the U.S., where several scientists who were affiliated with the programme were accused of failing to disclose Chinese ties or funding. The Plan even led to investigations, terminations, and, in some cases, even criminal 2022, under international pressure and domestic recalibration, Beijing hurriedly retired the original TTP. Although some elements of it live on in other points out that India doesn't need to replicate the Chinese model as it were. But there's a lesson there for us: 'China got it right that talent follows purpose. If your system signals seriousness, autonomy, and ambition, top talent will pay attention.'THE ROAD AHEADIndia's RDI scheme has laid the financial groundwork. But unless there's an equally compelling plan to mobilise human capital both domestically and globally, the country could end up with capital-rich labs and boardrooms but a scarcity of scientific like building a space rocket and forgetting to train the astronauts. You can get off the ground, but not go India hopes to lead in frontier innovation by 2047, it must think beyond money. It must craft a story bold enough to bring its brightest minds home not just to participate, but to lead.- Ends advertisement
India Today
30-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
China's Thousand Talents Plan: A weapon to win the tech race
In 2008, as China stood on the cusp of transforming from a manufacturing-led economy to a knowledge-driven one, the Chinese Communist Party launched one of the most ambitious talent recruitment strategies in modern history. They called it the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP).Initially, it aimed to be a conventional effort to bring back the diaspora, but the layers of this programme reveal a bold, controversial, and yet a highly calculated attempt by Beijing to close the innovation gap with the TTP, despite the controversies, is acknowledged as a successful, not always transparent, experiment in long-term strategic planning. Academics say it has reshaped the career calculus for many top-tier scientists and brought China significantly closer to the innovation ORIGIN: BRAIN GAIN V/S BRAIN DRAIN For decades, China's best minds left home in search of better research opportunities, freer academic environments, and their own career growth. They travelled mostly to the United States, which became the de facto talent magnet of the modern world. This 'brain drain' persisted well into the early 2000s, even as China's economic and technological capacities began to rise was then that China felt a need to reverse this trend. Li Yuanchao, head of the CCP's Organisation Department, initiated the TTP in December 2008. The aim was deceptively simple — attract 2,000 elite overseas Chinese researchers and entrepreneurs to return to China and contribute to its scientific and technological 2011, the scope of the programme had expanded. A new youth-focused offshoot, the Young Thousand Talents (YTT) programme, targeted early-career significantly, the original plan began courting non-Chinese foreign experts, with the state aiming to attract 50 to 100 such individuals annually over the next LURESuccessful candidates were offered a one-time settlement bonus of up to 1 million yuan, with additional research funding ranging from 3 to 5 million yuan. There were relocation packages offered that included subsidised housing, paid return trips home, spousal employment assistance, and educational support for children — a full-suite offering that rivalled or even exceeded what was available in many Western plan was also free of the bureaucratic red tape that often accompanies foreign appointments in China. For many, this alone presented an attractive Jon Antilla, an organic chemist with more than a decade of experience in the U.S. After growing frustrated with the time-consuming chase for research funding, he left his tenured post at the University of South Florida and moved to Tianjin University in China under the Thousand Talents wasn't alone. Other faculty members in Tianjin's chemistry department had similarly walked away from tenured roles at institutions like UC San Diego and Texas A&M — all drawn by China's generous, hassle-free funding and institutional GAINSadvertisementOver the past decade, more than 7,000 scientists and entrepreneurs, both Chinese returnees and foreign nationals, have reportedly taken up positions under the Thousand Talents Plan. Many were placed in key state laboratories, top universities, or even embedded into start-up ecosystems focused on AI, biotech, quantum computing, and clean universities rapidly climbed in global rankings, and research output (especially in STEM fields) surged. In strategic sectors like semiconductors, aerospace, and 5G, China moved from follower to contender 2017, China overtook the U.S. in terms of the number of research papers published in natural sciences. This was said to be due to the cumulative impact of initiatives like FALLOUTAlthough China said the TTP was a benign recruitment effort, Western intelligence agencies, especially in the U.S., raised FBI claimed the programme 'encouraged theft of intellectual property and sensitive technology,' positioning the TTP as part of a broader strategy to erode America's scientific and economic edge. While some of these claims led to prosecutions, many others were dropped, drawing criticism that the backlash may have also led to racial profiling and a chilling effect on legitimate academic AND CONTINUITYFaced with this scrutiny, the Chinese government was compelled to shelve public references to the Thousand Talents Plan around the effort itself never stopped. According to a 2023 Reuters investigation, the initiative was quietly revived under new names and frameworks, most notably the Qiming (Enlightenment) Programme. Overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Qiming offers even more generous incentives, including home-buying subsidies and signing bonuses of up to 5 million unlike TTP, the Qiming operates in stealth. Recipients are not publicly named, and their activities are kept off official FOR FUTUREThe U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia have all pursued 'cherry-picking' immigration strategies for decades. From the U.S. EB-1 visa for 'extraordinary ability' to the UK's Global Talent Visa. Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea have also long offered returnee programmes for diaspora scientists. China, too, seized the moment to turn its 'brain drain' into a deliberate brain TTP marked a turning point: talent is definitely no longer just about economics — it's about geopolitics.- Ends advertisement
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
With the pvt sector indifferent to R&D, India risks missing the deep-tech bus, or getting locked out
In the 2000s, China recognised that technological dependence was a strategic liability because it relied on US chips, Western operating systems and telecom infra. This triggered a strategy rooted in constructive paranoia, and the launch of mission-driven policies: Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology (2006-20): This aimed to make China an 'innovation-oriented nation'. Made in China 2025: It targeted dominance in 10 hi-tech sectors. Thousand Talents Plan (2008): This programme was launched to reverse brain drain, and attract global researchers. It has received massive state support through guidance funds, industrial subsidies and tech-focused SOEs. China also doubled down on patenting, domestic standards and end-to-end industrial ecosystems, from semiconductors to green energy. R&D investment surged past 2.5% of GDP, with a rapidly rising share from the private sector. Today, China leads the world in AI patents, EV production, solar capacity and quantum publications. Meanwhile, India faces similar vulnerabilities China faced 25 years ago: imported chips, weak indigenous IP, low- tech exports and a fragmented research base. And the response has been uneven. GoI has launched Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), a ₹1 lakh cr R&D fund, expanded PLI schemes, and invested in semiconductors, space tech, clean energy and quantum. For the first time, the government is adopting a full-spectrum approach to funding research and innovation across all technology readiness levels (TRLs). While ANRF will focus on early-stage discovery (TRLs 1-3) and improve ease of doing science with DST, a soon-to-be-finalised ₹1 lakh cr R&D fund should drive private investment in mid-to-late-stage innovation (TRLs 4-9) through long-term, near-zero-interest loans. This fund shifts focus from grants to outcome-linked support for developing commercially viable tech. While the need for greater funding in basic research is acknowledged, GoI is laying the essential groundwork to build a self-sustaining R&D ecosystem. Yet, the private sector remains risk-averse, contributing barely a third of national R&D. India's R&D-to-GDP ratio remains stuck below 0.7%, with little traction in patenting or deep-tech commercialisation. The innovation pipeline is still thin. Ex-Intel CEO Andrew Grove made the line, 'Let's be paranoid' - with its philosophy of the importance of proactive preparedness for unexpected changes and strategic inflection points - famous. And, yet, even Intel wasn't paranoid enough. It missed the AI inflection point, and today Nvidia has overtaken it in valuation, strategic relevance and tech leadership. A similar inversion is unfolding between China and the US, driven by who innovates faster and scales deeper. Unfortunately, while GoI is paranoid, India's private sector isn't. In 2024, Foundation for Advancing Science & Technology (FAST) published a comparative study, 'State of Industry R&D in India', of 59 Indian and 60 global firms across six key sectors: pharma, software, defence, chemicals, automobiles, and energy. The study, conducted between FY16 and FY23, reveals a persistent input-output gap. Global firms, on average, reported 2.9x R&D intensity (spend as % of revenue), 3.7x share of PhD-qualified employees, and 2.9x R&D spending as share of profits than Indian firms. On output indicators, the disparity is starker. Global firms generated 13.1x patents and 1.3x scientific publications per billion dollars of revenue compared to their Indian counterparts. In software, global firms had 32x R&D intensity and 12.1x patents by revenue. In pharma, India's strongest sector, R&D intensity (5.8%) lagged far behind global peers (17.3%). The only parameter where Indian firms outperformed was in R&D disclosure, with an average disclosure score of 6.2 (out of 10) vs 3.7 for global firms. The European Commission recently released the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard 2024. It presents data on the top global 2,000 companies investing in R&D. They invested ₹1,257.7 bn in R&D in 2023. Indian firms accounted for ₹5.5 bn, or about 0.4%, of global industrial R&D investment, with only 15 companies featuring among the world's top 2,000 R&D spenders. This places India behind not only advanced economies like the US (₹531.8 bn, 681 firms) and China (₹215.8 bn, 524 firms), but also innovation-intensive small economies such as South Korea (₹42.5 bn, 40 firms), Taiwan (₹24.7 bn, 55 firms), and Ireland (₹10.4 bn, 24 firms). Sustained long-term economic growth is driven by investments in knowledge and innovation. India's failure to internalise this principle within its industrial ecosystem suggests presence of constraints: low absorptive capacity, weak industry-academia linkages, and limited interest from the private sector in high-risk R&D. Persistent underrepresentation of Indian firms in global innovation rankings reflects a missing industrial policy focus on Schumpeterian creative destruction, without which India risks being confined to low-value segments of GVCs. In Liu Cixin's 2008 science fiction novel, The Three-Body Problem, the world gets paralysed by the sudden collapse of scientific progress. Stagnation is the real nightmare. It's not fiction any more. For India, the risk isn't that we fail. It's that we're too comfortable even to try. Innovation can't be outsourced. If there's a gap between what scientists are doing and what businesses need, then companies must invest in R&D, collaborate with academia, and shape research. If the private sector stays disengaged, we'll keep watching others lead. We just aren't paranoid enough.
