The world is undergoing rapid flux under the influence of a range of interrelated drivers. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in communities, health systems, and the supply chains of the globalised economy. Climate change is leading to the emergence of new types of risks in socio-environmental systems. As these risks – to communities, businesses, and the natural world – increase, the costs of not addressing them poses a growing threat to the resilience of societies and economies.

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Technology and sustainability issues are becoming non-negotiable and imperative. Culture and industrial systems must seek to transition to new modes of production and consumption compatible with the principles of sustainable development. There have been large disruptions in the technological world as well. Artificial intelligence (AI) has burst on the scene, with ‘generative’ AI systems demonstrating surprising and emergent capabilities for cognition and reasoning. This has resulted in acceleration of AI’s engagement into every sphere of public and private life as the ‘information society’.

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To meet these emerging needs, the Indian Institute of Science and Keio University, two leading academic institutions in India and Japan, have created the Indo-Japan Collaboration Forum for Science, Technology, and Innovation. The Forum is a participatory, transformative space and platform where drivers of change, along with their implications, can be discussed with key industry stakeholders, towards conceptualising suitable strategies to flourish into the future.

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Under the forum, India and Japan will collaborate together, and with the industry, to study current and emerging landscape trends, their interaction with systems, and discuss strategic action in a coordinated manner. We believe India-Japan Innovation will play a key role in transitioning to a future sustainable development pathway where risks have been addressed, opportunities taken, and challenges met. This collaboration will go beyond the purely technological, and must consider socio-technical systems – food, water, mobility, health, financial – and their transitions.

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Along with the industry, we aim to facilitate, co-create and curate interdisciplinary knowledge of vital and immediate importance – asking the question: how can we transition our systems and world to create a future where we can flourish, with technology, society and nature in harmony?