India must invest in ‘intellectual infrastructure’ along with physical infrastructure

Countries, including India, must invest in “intellectual infrastructure" as seriously as they invest in physical infrastructure, Pranav Adani, Director, Adani Enterprises Ltd, has emphasised, adding that institutions capable of looking beyond immediate headlines, challenging conventional assumptions, identifying emerging risks, and connecting developments across sectors would play a critical role in helping societies navigate uncertainty and sustain long-term growth.

Addressing the Foundation Day celebrations of the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF) in the national capital, Pranav Adani said as nations become more influential, the challenges before them also become more complex.

“Energy security, climate transition, artificial intelligence, demographic change, urbanisation, water stress, and geopolitical competition are increasingly interconnected, requiring policymakers to adopt a more integrated and long-term approach to decision-making,” Pranav Adani told the gathering.

The event brought together policymakers, diplomats, industry leaders, academics and researchers to discuss the growing importance of ideas, institutions and long-term thinking in an era marked by rapid technological change, geopolitical uncertainty, climate challenges, and economic transformation.

Shishir Priyadarshi, President of the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF), reflected on the profound transformations reshaping the global landscape.

He observed that geopolitical competition is intensifying, technological disruption is altering the nature of work and governance, climate change is increasingly affecting economies and societies, and international institutions are facing growing pressures in a rapidly changing world.

Priyadarshi noted that periods of global transition place a premium on ideas, institutions, and informed debate.

“As India assumes a larger role in shaping the global order, the country needs institutions that can combine intellectual honesty with strategic clarity and practical solutions. Ideas matter most when the world becomes uncertain," he said, adding that think tanks have a critical role to play in helping policymakers, businesses and citizens better understand the complex choices that will shape the country's future.

Erik Solheim, former Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway and internationally recognised sustainability leader, highlighted the importance of combining economic growth with environmental stewardship.

He stressed that countries that successfully align development objectives with sustainability goals would be best positioned to thrive in the decades ahead and underlined the importance of innovative policy thinking and international cooperation in addressing shared global challenges.

Dr Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and a special invitee at the event, said that CRF has arrived at the exact moment when India needs institutions capable of thinking clearly about a world that is changing with dizzying speed, certainly faster than our traditional categories for understanding this change.

By integrating practical industry insights into advocacy and governance, India should ensure that policy is neither formulated in an ideological vacuum nor left to the whims of short-term transnationalism, Tharoor told the gathering.