India, June 9 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
The Indian National Science Academy (INSA), as part of India's BRICS Presidency 2026, convened the first meeting of the BRICS Science Academies Forum 2026. Held virtually under the theme "Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development and Strengthening Global South Cooperation," the forum brought together science academies from ten nations, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, Belarus, Nigeria, and Vietnam, to advance a shared declaration on responsible and equitable AI development.
The meeting was moderated throughout by Prof. Debashis Mitra, Vice President (International), INSA, who steered structured dialogue among the participating academies. In his welcome remarks, Prof. Mitra noted that the forum is being organised as part of India's BRICS Presidency 2026 under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," and underscored INSA's central role in advancing this scientific agenda.
KEY OUTCOMES AT A GLANCE
INDIA LEADS BRICS SCIENCE COOPERATION
India holds the BRICS Presidency in 2026 under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. In this capacity, INSA is spearheading scientific collaboration across BRICS nations and partner countries. The forum serves as the preparatory platform for the full-scale BRICS Science Academies Forum Meeting 2026, scheduled for July at IIT Hyderabad.
"This forum aspires to move beyond dialogue. AI must become a practical instrument for inclusive and sustainable development across the Global South." - Prof. Shekhar C. Mande, President, INSA
DRAFT DECLARATION: BRIDGING THE AI DIVIDE
Prof. Ambuj Sagar, Founding Head, School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi, presented the draft declaration, highlighting critical issues around the unequal distribution of AI capacity and the widening digital divide between developed and developing nations. The declaration seeks to harness AI to accelerate scientific discovery, spanning materials science, drug development, climate modelling, and engineering, while ensuring that benefits reach the Global South equitably.
VOICES FROM THE FORUM
Participating academies contributed targeted recommendations to sharpen the declaration:
CONVERGENT PRIORITIES FOR BRICS AI COOPERATION
Drawing from the deliberations, Prof. Anurag Agrawal, Vice-President (Science Policy), INSA, identified cross-cutting themes of consensus: shared computing infrastructure; open data ecosystems; technology sovereignty; energy-efficient data centres; human resource development; and multilingual AI resources. Beyond large language models, participants noted the strategic value of smaller, task-oriented industrial models in domains where errors carry high consequences.
"South-South BRICS cooperation in AI can bring change in a far more equitable way, one that leads to genuinely sustainable development." - Prof. Anurag Agrawal, Vice-President (Science Policy), INSA
The meeting reaffirmed that humanities and social sciences must be integral to AI development, and that governance frameworks, ethical standards and robust data-sharing mechanisms are non-negotiable for trustworthy AI systems.
NEXT STEPS
The recommendations from today's meeting will be incorporated into the revised draft declaration. Dr. Brajesh Pandey, Executive Director, INSA, announced that delegations from BRICS countries and partner nations will convene in person for second meeting at IIT Hyderabad during 22-23, July 2026, where the declaration is expected to be finalised.
CSIR-NIScPR, the scientific and technological information policy research institute of CSIR, also participated in and contributed to the deliberations.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
