The recent global cyber outage of CrowdStrike can be a learning lesson. That day - stock markets faltered, flights were grounded and communication channels were unreliable. This incident highlighted the complex and interconnected nature of the world in 2024, where a single point of failure can have consequential cascading effects.

A few tech giants, with their head start in the digital age have built an intricate web of interconnected systems. While I'm not denying the advancements that have undoubtedly helped move humanity forward, they've also helped create a situation where developing nations are, in essence, digital tenants. Sometimes countries and their institutions over-rely on software solutions managed and provided by these entities abroad. I believe this creates an inherently unequal arrangement and creates a chokepoint which was only exemplified by the recent outage.

As an example - consider the not-so-hypothetical case of relying on a single cloud service provider for government data storage. In this scenario, imagine there is a data breach/service disruption/ransomware attack. What would that be like? I would say a digital earthquake. It would have the ability to compromise sensitive information and put a stop to essential government functions.

This example highlights the dangers of a vendor lock-in. It is scary to hypotheticate part of a nation's digital services being hopelessly handcuffed. But is it really too far-fetched?

Developing nations got to prioritize propelling domestic innovation and cultivating a vibrant 'native' tech ecosystem. This requires long-term thinking, a vision and the will to experiment, fail, re-experiment and succeed.

Am I advocating for shutting out the western tech giants altogether? Absolutely not. My point is that collaboration is vital but the dynamic needs to shift.

Instead of being passive consumers of technology, developing nations must become active participants in shaping its landscape. This can be achieved through heavy investments in R&D, partnerships with domestic universities and research institutions and creating a knowledge exchange network that benefits all parties.

Countries like India and China are making significant strides in domestic tech development. But India needs to catch up on a lot of things. I feel this isn't just about economic competitiveness anymore - it's about national sovereignty in this age.