The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Society for Electronic Transactions and Security (SETS), part of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, on Thursday agreed to collaborate and do joint R&D leading to development of tools and products in deep tech domains.
As part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU), both the organisations will carry out joint research in deep tech and emerging tech areas like Cyber Security, IoT Security, Mobile Device Security, Financial Network Slice Security and Hardware Security, etc.
The move is part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative and aims to improve self reliance on information and cyber security and to reduce dependence on tools developed outside the country.
Scientists and officers of both organisations will work on Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Technology for Cyber Security, Quantum Security and Cryptography focused innovations such as Quantum Random Number Generator, Crypto API Libraries, Quantum Safe Cryptography, etc.
Accordingly, Officers of SETS and UIDAI will be engaged to propose and execute Joint Research Projects and develop tools/products for use not only in UIDAI ecosystem but also in other critical IT infrastructure.
As a tool of good governance and foundation of India’s expansive digital public infrastructure, technology has been an integral part of Digital India initiative. Technology adoption and continuous upgradation is a key element of UIDAI’s functioning and is a prime focus area of its Aadhaar 2.0 roadmap as well.
UIDAI has issued over 1.36 billion Aadhaar numbers to residents. More than 70 million Aadhaar based authentication transactions are taking place every day. Close to 1,700 schemes of the central and state governments for welfare and good-governance that use Aadhaar.