In this episode of the National Security Podcast, the second instalment of our special three-part series looking at key trends influencing the future strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific, we consider the technologies that have become critical to national security and how they’re going to shape the region over the coming decades.

Technology has been part of human life since shale was shaped to cut animal hide. Things have come a long way since stone was the leading edge of innovation. In this episode of the National Security Podcast, we speak to a number of scientists, researchers, strategic thinkers and analysts to find out what technologies they are working on and the ones that they think could plausibly influence the future strategic landscape.

Jennifer Jackett is a Sir Roland Wilson Scholar in the National Security College at The Australian National University.

Professor Claudia Vickers is leads the Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Dr Amy Parker is Vice-President of Earth Observation Australia.

Dr Sue Keay is Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland AI Hub and Chair of Robotics Australia.

Dr Atsushi Sunami is the President of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

Michael O’Hanlon is Director of Research for Foreign Policy and Co-Director of the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution.

Elsa Kania is Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security.

Chris Farnham is the Senior Outreach and Policy Officer at the ANU National Security College.

This mini-series forms part of the Indo-Pacific Futures Project underway at ANU National Security College. This project, which explores the future strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific region, offers a range of analysis and ideas, all of which is available on the Futures Hub website. In the rest of this series, experts from across the national security community will interrogate the future of the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape, evaluate the influence of critical technology on the region, and examine the rise of geoeconomics as a feature of great power competition. Don't miss the first episode of the series.

The Indo-Pacific Futures Project receives support from the Japanese Embassy in Australia. ANU National Security College is independent in its activities, research, and editorial judgment and does not take institutional positions on policy issues. Accordingly, the author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this publication, which should not be taken as reflecting the views of any government or organisation.

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