We present the document on Science, Technology and Innovation of the Spain–India Report 2025
It took place within the framework of the Dual Year and was held at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, in an event chaired by the Secretary General for Innovation and the Ambassador of India to Spain | Download Report
The Spain-India Council Foundation, in collaboration with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, presented at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Working Paper 5 of the Spain–India Report 2025, dedicated to bilateral cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
The event brought together institutional, diplomatic, business, and academic representatives from both countries at a particularly opportune moment: the Spain–India Dual Year, which celebrates and strengthens ties between the two nations around culture, tourism, and artificial intelligence.
A report for a strategic moment
The event was opened by Juan Ignacio Entrecanales, Executive Vice President of ACCIONA and President of the Spain-India Council Foundation, who framed the presentation within the Dual Year and highlighted the qualitative leap in the bilateral relationship since the previous edition of the report, published in 2020. He noted how cooperation has evolved from being primarily institutional and horizontal to becoming more transversal, with a dynamic that also flows from the bottom up, as companies, universities, and startups take the initiative.
Entrecanales particularly emphasized the political will of both countries to strengthen ties along the three axes of the Dual Year—culture, tourism, and artificial intelligence—with special focus on the latter as a key diplomatic tool of the present moment. He also underlined a distinctive feature of the document: it not only highlights achievements but clearly identifies what remains to be done, making it a roadmap rather than just an assessment.
An update of STI cooperation since 2020
Carmen Grijalba Gil, research analyst at the Foundation and author of the document, presented the report’s contents and methodology. She explained that the analysis is structured around three frameworks: the national level—Spain’s and India’s STI strategies—, the bilateral level—tracking the evolution and increasing sophistication of cooperation between both countries—, and the multilateral level, mainly through the European Union.
In her assessment, Grijalba highlighted the shift in the cooperation agenda since 2020: whereas the focus then was on ICT, renewable energy, and biotechnology, by 2025 priority sectors include artificial intelligence, digital health, the circular economy, advanced materials, and shared technological sovereignty. This thematic shift is accompanied by a notable diversification of actors: the bilateral relationship no longer relies exclusively on governments, but increasingly involves companies, universities, technology centers, and civil society organizations.
However, she also identified persistent structural limitations, particularly in terms of joint funding and stable coordination mechanisms. She stressed the importance not only of generating new initiatives but also of consolidating and strengthening existing ones. Her closing message conveyed cautious optimism: the foundations for a qualitative leap in the bilateral relationship are in place; the next step is to equip them with mechanisms for promotion, monitoring, and continuity.
The institutional perspective: innovation, talent, and access to space
Teresa Riesgo, Secretary General for Innovation at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, highlighted the increasingly convergent interests between Spain and India and underscored the role of the CDTI as a driver of technological diplomacy, connecting Spanish companies and institutions with their Indian counterparts.
Riesgo also emphasized the space dimension of the bilateral relationship, describing it as a strategic area for both countries, in line with subsequent contributions from business representatives. Regarding talent, she pointed to senior talent attraction programs aimed at researchers from abroad—originally designed to counter brain drain in Spain—as a particularly promising avenue in the case of India, given the excellence of its scientific institutions.
The Ambassador of India to Spain, Shri Jayant N. Khobragade, welcomed the intensity of the current bilateral moment, highlighting several recent milestones: official visits by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, and Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun; the significance of the Dual Year; and the new framework of relations between the European Union and India, which he described as “game changing,” with particularly tangible benefits for economic and business actors on both sides.
The Ambassador also stressed the need to establish a joint innovation committee and highlighted the growing role of private companies in the bilateral relationship as a sign of its solidity and practicality.
The debate: talent, smart cities, and the space sector
The presentation was followed by a discussion involving representatives from various institutions and companies. Guillermo Rodríguez, Director of the Casa de la India, pointed to a structural gap he considers critical: the shortage of specialized researchers in both countries with deep knowledge of the other. In his view, investing in studies aimed at understanding India from Spain—and vice versa—is essential for the bilateral relationship to reach its full potential. He advocated both expert analysis by established academics and the training of new generations of researchers with a bilateral vocation.
Antonio Montes, Chief Relationship Officer at IE Business School, noted that Spain is already an attractive destination for Indian students, but that the system struggles to retain them after graduation. He proposed facilitating their integration into Spanish institutions and companies, leveraging the particularly valuable profile of individuals with a Spain–India orientation.
José Eugenio Salarich, Director of International Relations at ACCIONA, highlighted the interest of the Foundation’s board companies in attracting and retaining Indian talent in Spain and proposed advancing agreements with Indian universities—similar to the existing one with the University of Melbourne—as a concrete step. He also suggested creating an association of Spanish scientists in India as a practical tool for presence and talent attraction, a proposal supported by Teresa Riesgo, who emphasized that such initiatives require leadership from individuals with first-hand knowledge of the context.
Aurelio Martí, Business Development Director at Open Cosmos, highlighted India’s strategic value for the space sector: high-quality suppliers, top-level technical expertise, and, above all, access to outer space. Teresa Riesgo reinforced this point by noting Europe’s structural lack of independent access to space—relying on third-country platforms—and the potential for particularly fluid and sustained cooperation with India in this field.
Fernando de Pablo, Director General of the Digital Office of the Madrid City Council, brought the smart cities perspective into the discussion, stressing the need to strengthen urban technology and the significant potential for collaboration with technological universities from both countries in developing applied solutions for city management.
The document as a roadmap for 2025–2035
Working Paper 5 of the Spain–India Report 2025 analyzes the evolution of bilateral STI cooperation since 2020, maps the current state of innovation ecosystems in both countries, outlines key business and public-private synergies, examines available multilateral funding mechanisms—with particular attention to Horizon Europe and the EU-India Trade and Technology Council—and identifies strategic opportunities in areas such as biotechnology and digital health, advanced digital technologies, and cooperation in major international scientific infrastructures such as the Square Kilometre Array, joined by Spain in 2023 and India in 2024.
The report concludes with six strategic priorities for the 2025–2035 period: consolidating a long-term partnership; placing sustainability at the core of cooperation; advancing toward shared critical technological capabilities; developing flexible, multi-level governance; strengthening talent mobility and innovation ecosystems; and positioning the bilateral relationship as a benchmark in global knowledge governance. The document was developed with the essential contribution of the CDTI.
The presentation closed with a shared message from all participants: Spain–India relations in science, technology, and innovation have reached an unprecedented level of maturity and density. The challenge for the coming years is not to start something new, but to consolidate what has been built, ensure continuity of existing instruments, and structure cooperation with the strategic ambition that the moment—and the Dual Year—demand.
IE University ▪️ Antonio Montes, Chief Relationship Officer – IE Business School, Financial Times, Corporate Learning Alliances and Vice Chairman of the Spain–India Council Foundation
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation ▪️ Emilio Contreras, Deputy Director General for South Asia
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation ▪️ Lourdes Meléndez, Advisor – Directorate-General for North America, Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific
Open Cosmos ▪️ Aurelio Martí, Business Development Director
Secretary of State for Trade ▪️ María Aguado Ramírez, Deputy Director General for Europe, Asia and Oceania
General Secretariat for Innovation ▪️ Teresa Riesgo, Secretary General
