INSA convenes BRICS Science Academies Forum on 'AI for Sustainable Development' under India's 2026 Presidency

As part of India's BRICS Presidency 2026, the Indian National Science Academy hosted the first virtual meeting of ten nations' science academies to shape a Global South declaration on responsible, equitable AI.

What happened

• 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', it brought together science academies from ten nations — Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa, Belarus, Nigeria and Vietnam.
• The forum reviewed and strengthened a draft declaration on AI for Science and Sustainable Development, reaching consensus on shared computing infrastructure, collaborative data platforms and multilingual AI models.
• It called for joint task forces, researcher-mobility schemes and open-source scientific infrastructure — and flagged the unequal distribution of AI capacity and the widening digital divide between developed and developing nations.
• India holds the BRICS Presidency in 2026 under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'; a second, onsite meeting is scheduled for 22-23 July 2026 at IIT Hyderabad.

For Prelims

• Indian National Science Academy (INSA): India's apex science academy (founded 1935, New Delhi), representing Indian scientists across disciplines and engaging in international science cooperation. (Distinct from the science academies at Bengaluru — IASc — and Allahabad — NASI.)
• BRICS: Originally Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. After the 2024-25 expansion the grouping added members including Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE; Belarus, Nigeria, Vietnam etc. participate as partner countries — explaining the ten academies present here.
• India's BRICS Presidency 2026: Theme — 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability'. The Science Academies Forum is a track under this presidency.
• Global South: A broad term for developing/emerging economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America; India positions itself as a voice of the Global South (e.g. Voice of Global South Summits, G20 inclusion of the African Union).
• AI digital divide: The gap in access to computing power (GPUs), data, talent and capital that concentrates AI capability in a few advanced economies — the core problem the draft declaration targets through shared infrastructure and open-source models.
• Multilingual AI models: AI/LLMs trained for many languages (important for the linguistically diverse Global South) — India's own efforts include BharatGPT-type and Bhashini language initiatives.
• Don't confuse: INSA (the science academy, under the science ecosystem/DST) is NOT a government ministry; and the BRICS Science Academies Forum is a science-diplomacy track — separate from the leaders' BRICS Summit and the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).

For Mains

Syllabus: GS2.18 · GS3.13 · Linkage L2