India–France
Innovation Roadmap 2030: Strengthening Strategic Technology & Innovation
Partnership
·
India
and France elevated their ties to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership” in February 2026.
·
The
India–France
Year of Innovation 2026
was jointly launched by PM Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron.
·
Both
countries will make Trusted
Artificial Intelligence (AI) a core area of cooperation.
·
Focus
on:
o
Safe,
secure, and trustworthy AI systems.
o
Ethical
AI aligned with democratic values and human rights.
o
AI
governance and standards for emerging technologies.
·
India
and France will collaborate on AI-enabled child safety measures.
·
Areas
include:
o
Privacy-preserving
age verification.
o
Safety-by-design
digital platforms.
o
Child-focused
AI safety standards.
·
Both
nations support privacy-preserving and consent-based data sharing frameworks.
·
Collaboration
will build secure data ecosystems for:
o
Healthcare
o
Research
o
Public
services
o
AI
innovation.
·
France
aims to host 30,000
Indian students by 2030.
·
Plans
to expand the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications (MRQ) agreement.
·
Increased
student exchanges, dual-degree programmes, and joint
research initiatives.
·
Enhanced
role for:
o
Indo-French
Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA)
o
India-France
Innovation Network (IFIN)
o
Franco-Indian
Campus in Life Sciences for Health (FIC-LSH).
·
Launch
of the India–France
InnoXchange Bridge to connect startups,
investors, innovation clusters, and research labs.
·
Greater
cooperation between governments, industry, universities, startups, and SMEs.
·
India
and France will establish a Franco-Indian Campus for Aeronautics Training and Careers in Kanpur.
·
Focus
on skill development and workforce training in aviation and aerospace sectors.
·
Both
countries will deepen collaboration in:
o
Earth
observation
o
Human
space exploration
o
Space
technologies and private space ecosystems.
·
Bengaluru
Space Expo and International Space Summit will support future joint
initiatives.
·
Joint
work on health data platforms and AI-based healthcare solutions.
·
Collaboration
between India’s ICMR and France’s Health Data Hub for secure, consent-based
health data sharing.
·
Numerous
MoUs signed between Indian institutions such as IIT
Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad, IISc Bengaluru, and leading
French universities and companies.
·
Focus
areas include:
o
AI
o
Sustainability
o
Climate
change
o
Mobility
o
3D
computing
o
Aerospace
o
Entrepreneurship
and innovation.
The India–France Innovation Roadmap 2030 provides a comprehensive
framework for collaboration in AI, education, research, startups, healthcare,
aerospace, and space technology. Guided by shared democratic values and
strategic autonomy, the roadmap aims to strengthen innovation ecosystems, foster
technological sovereignty, and create solutions for global challenges while
advancing the goals of Viksit
Bharat 2047
and France
2030.
[ABS News Service/15.06.2026]
On
17 February 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron
elevated the bilateral relationship to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership”
and jointly inaugurated the India-France Year of Innovation 2026, calling for
expanded and diversified cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence,
innovation, research, technology, digital technology and cyber space, health,
culture, economy, educational links and people-to-people ties.
Building
upon the Horizon 2047 Roadmap and the shared innovation journey of the two
countries, India and France recognize innovation as a central driver of
economic resilience, sustainable development, strategic autonomy, and
technological and industrial sovereignty. Both sides agree that a strengthened
innovation partnership will help unlock the full innovation potential of the
two countries and contribute to solutions for global challenges.
The
two sides recognize that India’s vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 and France’s
ambition under France 2030 provide strong convergences for building a
future-oriented innovation partnership, paving the way for new investment
opportunities in disruptive innovations. India and France are therefore
adopting the India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030 as a framework to guide their
collaborative efforts towards advancing co-development in critical and emerging
technologies, strengthening trusted technology ecosystems, deepening academic
and research mobility, and delivering concrete outcomes for people, the planet
and shared prosperity.
This
Roadmap consists of the following key elements:
I.
Partnership for 'Trusted AI' a central pillar of innovation
partnership: Building on the India–France Declaration on Artificial
Intelligence of February 2025 and the AI Action and Impact Summits hosted by
France and India in 2025 and 2026 respectively, both countries agree to make
'trusted AI' a central pillar of their innovation partnership.
●
Safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems: Both sides will work together to
promote safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems that are aligned with
democratic values and human rights, prevent discrimination and the
dissemination of misinformation, and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. They will encourage cooperation between regulators, standards
bodies, and technical experts to advance interoperable, risk-based approaches
to AI governance, including for frontier and generative models, while ensuring
that innovation and national development are not stifled.
●
Cooperation on child safety online as a priority of their AI partnership:
Recognizing the acute risks that AI-enabled services pose to vulnerable
sections particularly children in the digital environment, India and France
agree to deepen their cooperation on child safety online as a priority of their
AI partnership. Building on the Expert Engagement Group on AI and Child Safety
convened at the AI Impact Summit 2026 and India’s emerging techno-legal
framework on child safety online, the two sides will develop concrete synergies
between their ongoing initiatives, including privacy-preserving age assurance,
safety-by-design architectures, and outcome-based safety standards for AI
systems that materially interact with children.
●
Centrality of privacy-preserving data sharing frameworks: India and France
recognize the centrality of privacy-preserving data sharing frameworks to
unlock the full potential of AI and data-driven innovation while safeguarding
fundamental rights. India’s Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA)
and France’s own work on trusted data spaces and health data platforms offer
complementary strengths that can support secure, consent-based data flows for
research, healthcare, and public services.
II.
Partnership for enhanced people-to-people cooperation via academic
mobility: In accordance with the shared objectives under the Horizon 2047
framework, both sides recognize that investment in STEM education, research
partnerships, mobility of talent, and institutional collaboration will play a
critical role in preparing future generations to address global challenges. In
this regard, both sides acknowledge the importance of France’s objective of
welcoming 30,000 Indian students by 2030 and reaffirm their commitment to
strengthening people-to-people ties as a foundation of the bilateral
partnership. In this context, both sides welcome the following initiatives:
●
Mutual Recognition of Qualifications (MRQ): Recognizing the central role of
mobility and academic integration in sustaining long-term innovation
partnerships, both sides reaffirm the importance of strengthening mutual
recognition frameworks for higher education and professional qualifications.
Recalling that France became the first country to conclude a Mutual Recognition
of Qualifications (MRQ) agreement with India in 2018, both sides express their
intention to work towards an expanded and updated framework encompassing a
broader range of academic disciplines, regulated professions, and emerging
technology domains. Such cooperation would support greater academic mobility,
facilitate dual-degree programmes and doctoral co-supervision arrangements, and
contribute significantly towards strengthening the long-term talent and
knowledge partnership between India and France.
●
Further, several institutions from India and France have agreed to collaborate
on academic mobility through student exchanges and research collaboration [List
of MoUs in annexure].
III.
Partnership for technological sovereignty and innovation led growth through
industry-academia linkages: Both countries recognize that closer
collaboration between governments, industries, startups, universities, research
institutions will be essential for fostering innovation-led growth, and
building resilient and trusted supply chains in strategic sectors. In this
context, both sides recognize:
●
the centrality of the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research
(CEFIPRA), a flagship instrument of bilateral scientific cooperation, with an
enhanced focus on innovation and the co-development and scaling of
strategically relevant technologies.
●
the importance of the India-France Innovation Network (IFIN), as a key
achievement of the India-France Year of Innovation, and a powerful tool to
connect the two countries’ innovation ecosystems. Both countries are committed
to contributing to its long-term vitality including through the possible
establishment of a joint Indo-French steering committee to ensure the
governance of the IFIN.
●
the relevance of the Franco-Indian Campus in Life Sciences for Health (FIC-LSH)
as an existing platform supporting cooperation in biomedical sciences and
health innovation, and express interest in continuing discussions on ways to
strengthen its contribution to bilateral research, academic collaboration, and
innovation partnerships in the health sector.
Through
reciprocal access to research laboratories, the CEFIPRA, the Joint Science and
Technology Committee, start-up collaboration at Station-F, FRIND-X and the
launch of the India-France Innovation Network, both countries are committed to
securing their technological sovereignty and ensuring that the next generation
of researchers and entrepreneurs can independently address global challenges.
Further,
both sides agreed to the following initiatives:
●
Franco-Indian Campus for Aeronautics Training and Careers: France and India
will establish an aeronautical training campus in Kanpur in partnership with
MSDE, in order to develop and share their training offerings in this prominent
and strategic sector.
●
India–France InnoXchange Bridge: Both sides
acknowledge the potential of the India-France InnoXchange
Bridge as a bilateral startup and innovation exchange initiative aimed at
establishing a dedicated research and entrepreneurship corridor between the two
countries. Building on existing bilateral initiatives, the InnoXchange
Bridge could provide structured and reciprocal access to research laboratories,
technology platforms, innovation clusters, investors and start-up ecosystems in
both countries, enabling start-ups and innovators to undertake research
residencies, collaborative innovation immersion and collaboration programmes as
well as soft landings across both jurisdictions.
●
Acknowledging the vital role of small and medium enterprises in driving
innovation, employment and inclusive economic growth, both sides intend to
explore ways for further interactions between SME ecosystems.
●
France and India remain committed to strengthening the existing strong
partnership between the two countries in space at an institutional level as
well as between the French and Indian private space ecosystems. India and
France will host two international space events during the same week: the
Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX) on 7-9 September in Bengaluru, and the International
Space Summit on 9-10 September in Paris. These major events will contribute to
lay the foundations for a structured common ambition to deepen our bilateral
space cooperation in the fields of Earth observation and human exploration
including joint activities related to French Zero-G capabilities and expertise
and to Indian future space station in Low Earth Orbit and to bring together the
French and Indian eco-systems.
IV.
Partnership for building AI and research-based solutions for global challenges
in health
●
Consent based data sharing: Building on ongoing collaborations such as the
pilot project involving India's ICMR and France’s Health Data Hub (HDH), the
two sides will work on consent-based architectures, in compliance with national
legal frameworks, for secure data sharing that can be scaled, adapted to
additional sectors and shared with interested partners, including in the Global
South. India and France will encourage joint work between their data
intermediaries, technical standard bodies and regulators to advance
interoperable, rights-protecting data infrastructures that underpin AI
innovation and public-interest research.
India
and France will pursue this Roadmap as a partnership guided by mutual trust,
shared democratic values, strategic autonomy, and a common commitment to
trusted, open, inclusive and human-centric innovation.
ANNEX
TO INDIA FRANCE INNOVATION ROADMAP 2030
|
|
Agreements |
|
1. |
Amendment
to existing Memorandum of Understanding to add cooperation in translation,
incubation and acceleration between IIT Bombay and Institut
Polytechnique de Paris (IPP), France |
|
2. |
Amendment
to existing Memorandum of Understanding to add cooperation in translation,
incubation and acceleration between IIT Bombay and Paris-Saclay university,
France. |
|
3. |
Cooperation
between faculty, administrative staff, departments and research institutions
between IIT Bombay and Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France. |
|
4 . |
Academic
and scientific exchange and collaboration in education and research between
IIT Delhi and Institut Mines-Télécom,
France |
|
5. |
Innovation
and entrepreneurship partnership, especially Energy, Sustainability and
Climate Change between IIT Delhi and Foundation for Innovation and Technology
Transfer (FITT) and Racines de France, France. |
|
6. |
Innovation
and entrepreneurship partnership, focused on Energy, Sustainability and
Climate Change between IIT Delhi and Foundation for Innovation and Technology
Transfer (FITT) and DDI (Descartes Développement & Innovation) incubator |
|
7. |
Innovation
and entrepreneurship partnership to address global challenges and accelerate
research into market-ready products and solutions between IIT Delhi and
Foundation for Innovation and G2i Venture Management Private Limited (Represented by its French entity SC
Conseil) |
|
8. |
Expression
of Interest to explore academic, innovation, entrepreneurship and research
collaboration in mobility, AI, digital platforms, sustainability, smart
transportation systems and innovation ecosystems between IIT Gandhinagar and Comuto SA / BlaBlaCar, France |
|
9. |
Strategic
academia-industry partnership in Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT),
with focus on building a national ecosystem in India between IIT Tirupati and
Safran Electronics & Defense, France |
|
10. |
Declaration
of Intention between the IITs, IISC and UDICE networks to promote academic,
scientific and research collaboration in areas of mutual interest |
|
11. |
Memorandum
of Understanding for collaboration on 3D computing systems between IIT
Hyderabad and Crimson Energy Experts and Dassault Systeme |
|
12. |
Memorandum
of Understanding between CYRAN AI and Safran Aircraft Engines |
|
13. |
Renewal
of the Student Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and Université de
Limoges (UNILIM) |
|
14. |
Student
Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and ESCP Business School |
|
15. |
Student
Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and Clermont Auvergne Institut National Polytechnique (Clermont Auvergne INP) |
|
16. |
Student
Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and Université de Technologie de Compiégne (UTC) |
|
17. |
Renewal
of the Student Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and CentraleSupélec
Univesrsité Paris-Saclay |
|
18. |
Memorandum
of understanding between Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), France and Indian
Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc), India |
|
19. |
Academic
Collaboration and Student Exchange Agreement between IIT Madras and Ecole
Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne |