US envoy launches TRUST Fellowship in Bengaluru
A new fellowship under the India-US TRUST framework was launched in Bengaluru, timed with the US mission's National Day reception marking 250 years of American independence
The fellowship will fund US postdoctoral researchers and early-career faculty to undertake 12-month collaborative research projects with Indian institutions
Research areas covered include artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing and biotechnology
The programme is supported by private philanthropic funding and hosted at three Indian institutions: IIT Madras, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE)
TRUST Initiative — Successor to iCET
The TRUST framework (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) is the upgraded India-US technology partnership architecture that replaced the earlier Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
Key Details
- TRUST was announced on 13 February 2025 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's working visit to Washington D.C., alongside US President Donald Trump, as part of the broader India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership
- It retains iCET's core focus areas — semiconductors, AI and quantum technologies — while expanding into critical minerals, biotechnology, energy, space technologies and advanced manufacturing
- TRUST sits alongside the India-US COMPACT framework (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology), which addresses defence and trade dimensions of the relationship
- India's Principal Scientific Adviser's office coordinates the Indian side of the initiative, continuing the institutional role it held under iCET
The TRUST Fellowship is a concrete academic-research instrument operating under the broader TRUST umbrella, translating the 2025 government-to-government framework into people-to-people research collaboration at the institutional level.
iCET — Origins and India-US Technology Cooperation Architecture
The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) was the precursor framework that first institutionalised joint India-US work on strategic technologies before being subsumed into TRUST.
The Bengaluru fellowship demonstrates the practical continuity between iCET-era priorities (AI, semiconductors, quantum) and the expanded TRUST mandate, now extended to biotechnology and executed through university-level research exchange rather than only government dialogue.
Public-Private Model in Strategic Technology Diplomacy
The TRUST Fellowship is structured as a public-private partnership, with private philanthropic capital funding a government-endorsed strategic technology initiative — a model increasingly used in India-US science diplomacy to move faster than purely inter-governmental funding channels.
Key Details
- The fellowship is funded by private philanthropists rather than direct government budgetary allocation, with delivery routed through top-tier Indian academic institutions (IIT Madras, IISc, MAHE)
- This mirrors broader Indian S&T policy trends emphasising public-private and philanthropic participation in research funding, alongside government vehicles like the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF, established 2023 under the National Research Foundation Act)
- Critical and emerging technologies identified in both iCET and TRUST — AI, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology — are also the four pillars flagged in India's own National Deep Tech Startup Policy discussions and the National Quantum Mission (2023, outlay ₹6,003 crore)
The fellowship shows how bilateral technology frameworks like TRUST are increasingly implemented through hybrid public-private academic vehicles rather than solely through inter-governmental agencies, a structural detail relevant to understanding contemporary S&T diplomacy mechanisms.
- TRUST Fellowship launched: 6 September 2026, Bengaluru, at the US Mission's National Day reception marking 250 years of US independence
- TRUST framework announced: 13 February 2025, Washington D.C., by PM Modi and President Trump; replaced iCET
- iCET launched: January 2023, by the National Security Councils of India and the US
- Fellowship duration: 12-month collaborative research projects for US postdoctoral researchers and early-career faculty
- Focus areas: artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology
- Host institutions: IIT Madras, IISc Bengaluru, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE)