Why in the News?

The Technology and Innovation Report, 2025 was recently issued by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

About the Technology and Innovation Report

The report is released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
It addresses critical issues related to science, technology, and innovation, with a particular focus on developing countries. The report emphasizes policy-relevant analysis and conclusions.
The theme for the 2025 edition is “Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development.”

Global Highlights:
- Developed countries lead in technology preparedness, but nations like China, India, and Brazil outperform their income levels.
- AI market projected to reach USD 4.8 trillion by 2033, fuelling global digital transformation.
- 100 companies, mostly in the U.S. and China, account for 40% of global corporate R&D spending.
- AI will affect 40% of jobs globally, raising concerns over automation and job displacement.
- U.S. leads in AI investment with USD 67 billion, followed by China (USD 7.8 billion) and India (USD 1.4 billion).
- AI Governance Gap: 118 countries, mainly from the Global South, are absent from global AI governance discussions.
Indian Prospects:
- India ranks 36th in the Readiness for Frontier Technologies Index in 2024, up from 48th in 2022. It ranks 10th globally with USD 1.4 billion in AI investments.
- India has a talent pool of 13 million AI developers, contributing significantly to open-source platforms like GitHub.
- The India AI Mission (2024) focuses on AI innovation through collaborations with the private sector and academia.
- India leads in nanotechnology and has AI excellence centres like IIT Hyderabad and IIT Kharagpur.

[UPSC 2019] The Global Competitiveness Report is published by the:

(a) International Monetary Fund (b) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (c) World Economic Forum (d) World bank