Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ESTIC 2026, the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on 27 October. ESTIC is organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, known as CSIR. The conclave runs from 27 to 29 October and includes about 150 deep-tech startup stalls.
Modi said India must create global solutions, and not only adopt solutions made elsewhere. He urged researchers, industry, startups and students to set a concrete three-year target for their work. He also stressed safety and security across AI, synthetic biology and autonomous systems. The Prime Minister said the goal is to develop technologies which empower India and contribute to solving problems of humanity.
ESTIC brings together researchers, industry leaders, startups, students and policymakers. Its programme covers a wide set of fields, and its stalls give deep-tech startups a place to present work based on science and engineering research. About 150 such stalls are part of the event, according to the brief for the conclave.
ESTIC is a national meeting on emerging science and technology. The 2026 edition runs for three days at Bharat Mandapam, a large convention venue in New Delhi. The event is organised by CSIR, one of India’s main public research bodies.
ESTIC and the three-year target
The call for a concrete three-year target was aimed at a broad audience. Modi addressed researchers, industry, startups and students in the same message. A three-year target gives a team a fixed period to move from an idea to a tested result, a working prototype or a product that can be used outside a laboratory. The brief for the conclave does not list individual targets for each group.
That message fits the wider aim of ESTIC. The conclave is meant to link research with use, so that work in laboratories reaches companies, public services and users.
The stalls from deep-tech startups are one part of that link. They put early-stage companies in front of researchers, investors, industry buyers and policymakers in one place.
Deep-tech startups differ from other startups because their work rests on a scientific advance or a hard engineering problem. That can mean longer development times and higher technical risk. It can also mean work that is hard to copy once it is proven. The conclave gives such firms a chance to test interest, find partners and hear what users and funders need.
Safety and security were also central to the opening message. Modi stressed safety and security across AI, synthetic biology and autonomous systems. Those three fields raise distinct questions. AI systems need checks on data, accuracy and misuse. Synthetic biology needs controls on lab work and on the release of engineered organisms. Autonomous systems need clear rules on control, testing and accountability when a machine acts without direct human input.
ESTIC and the National Missions
The conclave sits alongside National Missions spanning semiconductors, quantum, biotechnology, advanced materials, robotics, space, clean energy and next-generation communications. Those missions cover a broad span of technology. Semiconductors are the chips at the core of computers, phones and industrial equipment. Quantum work covers computing and communications based on quantum physics. Biotechnology covers the use of living systems and organisms to make products and services.
Advanced materials cover new substances with improved strength, weight, heat resistance or electrical properties. Robotics covers machines that carry out tasks with limited human control. Space covers launch, satellites and the services that depend on them. Clean energy covers power from sources that produce little or no carbon emissions. Next-generation communications covers faster and more capable networks for data and voice.
Each mission area has its own research base, industry partners and public uses. ESTIC does not replace those missions. It gives them a shared meeting point, where researchers from one field can see work from another and where startups can find a route into larger programmes. The brief for the event does not give funding figures for the missions, and it does not set a date for results from any single mission.
The opening message also set a test for success. Modi said India must create global solutions, not only adopt them. That test is about origin and ownership. A global solution made in India would be used beyond India, and it would carry Indian research, design and manufacturing. The conclave will be judged, in part, on whether the work shown there moves in that direction over the three years Modi named.
ESTIC runs until 29 October at Bharat Mandapam. The ESTIC stalls, sessions and meetings over the three days will give researchers, startups and industry a chance to set out what they plan to do next.
The three-year target Modi urged will be the measure against which those plans are read when the conclave closes.