India and the European Union have agreed to deepen their technology and investment ties, and the India EU tech ties on the table cover trade, quantum technologies, semiconductors and biotechnology. The agreement came at the seventh India-EU Strategic Partnership Review Meeting in New Delhi on Monday 9 November, co-chaired by Sibi George, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and Matti Maasikas, Deputy Secretary General for Geoeconomics and Interinstitutional Issues of the European External Action Service. The two sides said they want the outcomes to be mutually beneficial and transformative.
The India EU tech ties discussion ran alongside the free trade agreement, which the two sides are set to seal next month. India and the 27-nation bloc concluded negotiations on the trade agreement earlier this year, and European Council President Antonio Costa said last month that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Brussels in December to sign it formally. The pact is projected to create a market covering more than two billion people and accounting for around a quarter of the global economy. The two sides agreed to work towards the timely signing and implementation of the agreement, and to continue work on the investment protection agreement and the agreement on geographical indications.
The meeting reviewed the Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda adopted at the 16th India-EU Summit in New Delhi on 27 January 2026. Both sides welcomed the positive momentum in the relationship, and the talks covered supply chains and economic security, including strategic engagements in the Trade and Technology Council and the Blue Valleys initiative. The Trade and Technology Council was unveiled in 2022 to handle exchanges on critical technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and cybersecurity.
India EU tech ties and the technologies covered
The India EU tech ties in the talks span artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, digital public infrastructure, advanced semiconductors, clean technologies and biotechnology. The two sides also discussed work to advance a digital environment that supports digital public infrastructure, a field where India has built large-scale systems for payments and identity. The cooperation is meant to move from dialogue to joint work, with the Trade and Technology Council as the forum for the technology agenda.
The India EU tech ties also cover talent and research mobility. The meeting reviewed talent mobility and people-to-people exchanges alongside the technology agenda, and the Horizon Europe association will let Indian researchers join European consortia and use cutting-edge research infrastructure. The India EU tech ties are therefore about more than trade rules: researchers, companies and laboratories working together on shared projects.
Connectivity was also on the agenda. The two sides underlined the importance of the connectivity partnership, including the European Union’s Global Gateway, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and trilateral projects in clean energy, climate resilience, green mobility and digitalisation. The next review meeting will take place in Brussels next year, at a date the two sides will fix together.
India EU tech ties and the Horizon Europe deal
The India EU tech ties deepened further on Friday 6 November, when India and the European Commission concluded negotiations on India’s association with Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme, with a budget of 93.5 billion euros for 2021 to 2027. Once signed and ratified, the association is expected to take effect in January 2027. Indian researchers, businesses and research organisations will be able to take part on equal terms with counterparts from EU member states, receive direct funding and lead collaborative projects under Pillar II, which covers health, digital technologies, industry, space, climate, energy and the bioeconomy.
The Horizon Europe association is the closest form of research cooperation the European Union offers to non-member nations, and it follows exploratory talks launched in February 2026 and formal negotiations that began in July 2026. It builds on the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation first signed in 2001 and renewed until 2030. The India EU tech ties now run through the free trade agreement, the Trade and Technology Council and Horizon Europe, and the December signing in Brussels is the next step in that sequence.