At their first in-person summit on September 24, 2021, Quad leaders launched the Quad Principles on Technology Design, Development, Governance, and Use, along with several new cooperation initiatives including the Quad Fellowship. The joint statement noted that the principles were intended to “guide not only the region but the world towards responsible, open, high-standards innovation.”
Alongside the principles, the leaders announced the Quad Fellowship, a scholarship program bringing together 100 graduate students per year from the four Quad nations to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at U.S. universities. Schmidt Futures was selected to operate and administer the fellowship, with founding corporate sponsors including Accenture, Blackstone, Boeing, Google, Mastercard, and Western Digital. Each fellow receives a $50,000 award.
On critical and emerging technologies, the summit fact sheet confirmed that the Quad was mapping supply chains for semiconductors and monitoring trends in critical technologies starting with biotechnology. The leaders also established new cooperation tracks in cyber security and space. President Biden, Prime Minister Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Modi of India, and Prime Minister Suga of Japan participated in the Washington, D.C. meeting.