Why India Is Emerging as a Key Partner in Scientific Cooperation

The AI Impact Summit, to be held on 19-20 February 2026 in New Delhi, will bring together heads of state, including Emmanuel Macron. What are the central issues?

Last year, France organised the AI Action Summit, which focused more on ethical and social questions, as well as the economic implications of AI. The discussions touched especially on problems relating to inequality, disinformation, the digital divide, and inequality between the Global North and the Global South. In New Delhi, the word “impact” reflects a desire to move from dialogue to action, and doing so with a clear vision: artificial intelligence should benefit all of humanity. The idea is to build artificial intelligence that is sustainable. The Indian organizers structured the summit into three “sutras,” which I call the three Ps: people, planet, and progress. For “people”: respecting diversity and human dignity, and ensuring that AI is inclusive for all. For “planet”: promoting AI that is sustainable, in order to protect our environment. For “progress”: making certain that the benefits arising from the development of AI are shared equitably by all of society. The goal of the summit, as it was established by the Indian government, is to move from ideas to concrete applications by ensuring that AI serves humanity in an equitable, inclusive, and responsible manner.

For India, caught between multiple major powers in the artificial intelligence race, what are the specific issues, notably with respect to generative AI models and infrastructure? Is there a particular strategy supported by Narendra Modi?

India wants to pursue a trajectory as a technological nation, and to this end is counting on AI, namely by attracting massive foreign investment. Faithful to its non-alignment policy, the country refuses to be outpaced, all while contending with major powers. The country is massively investing in AI, not only to reduce its dependence on foreign technology, but also to ensure that the expected advances benefit everyone–nearly one and a half billion inhabitants. AI for language is a central issue in India, as there are 22 official languages, and hundreds of dialects. India is counting on AI to facilitate communication and access to services for all. It aims not simply to be a consumer that is dependent on other countries, but to actively manoeuvre and develop its own generative AI. India ascribes great importance to its technological sovereignty, as demonstrated by its “Make in India” initiative1 , with everything that can be done in India itself being important for the country.

• 1Make in India is an Indian government initiative to encourage enterprises to conceive, produce, and assemble their products in India, all while stimulating investment in manufacturing.

How is the CNRS participating in the summit?

The AI Impact Summit is an international summit whose invitees include major AI actors such as Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO), Jensen Huang (Nvidia founder and CEO), and Arthur Mensch (Mistral AI founder and CEO), to name but a few. As a research organisation, the CNRS accounts for 26% of co-publications with India in the field of AI. With this in mind, CNRS CEO Antoine Petit will take part in an international discussion panel on the topic of “Harnessing AI to accelerate frontier science, foster scientific collaboration, and translate breakthroughs into shared global progress.” He will also speak in advance of the summit during the RUSH event (High-level academic and scientist meeting), a satellite workshop organised by the Embassy of France in India to celebrate French-Indian cooperation. This event will bring together major French research organisations and universities collaborating in India. Artificial intelligence will be central to the discussions, especially in the field of global health, notably with the inauguration of a portable MRI (emerging from Make in India, and enhanced by French AI), and the launch of the French-Indian AI Centre on Global Health. Antoine Petit will also present the AISSAI centre established by the CNRS, which has sparked interest from numerous foreign partners.

2026 is the India-France Year of Innovation, with the country distinguishing itself through highly pragmatic approach featuring the concept of frugal (“jugaad”) innovation, and by investment in large-scale technological development, notably in the Bangalore area, which has great weight in its economy and will be impacted by AI. The country nevertheless invests relatively little in R&D (on the order of 0.65% of its GDP). How is Indian research organised, and what are its scientific priorities?

With a population of approximately 1.5 billion inhabitants, India is currently fourth globally in terms of GDP. The percentage of GDP allocated to R&D may seem low at first glance, but it remains considerable in volume due to the size of the country, and especially its population. India is the third leading nation for scientific production, with 6% of global scientific production, well behind China (27%) and the United States (13%)—and 4th if we take Europe into account (18%). Its research ecosystem remains complex because it involves numerous actors: ministries, funding agencies, independent organisations, public and private universities, and the private sector. Each entity has its own funding, which makes it fragmented overall. Reforms are expected in the coming years to provide coherence, with the country planning to increase R&D investment in particular. Its key priorities include artificial intelligence, quantum technology, the blue economy, decarbonised hydrogen, defence, and health for all, a particularly important issue in light of it large population.

The CNRS opened an office in India in 2011. What are the organisation’s primary collaborations in the country?

India is a nation that has always produced very good scientists; scientific cooperation between our two countries is long-standing, and in keeping with a long tradition of excellence. In the humanities and social sciences, the CNRS is present in India today via two UMIFRE1 : the Centre des sciences humaines in New Delhi created in 1980, and the French Institute of Pondicherry inaugurated in 1955, both jointly operated by CNRS Humanities and Social Sciences and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. These centres are essential vantage points for the country’s evolution. The French Institute of Pondicherry, which focuses on the humanities, goes beyond a strictly HSS framework, with research on Indology, Palynology, and Geomatics that requires satellite imagery and artificial intelligence. All CNRS Institutes are represented to various degrees. Mathematics plays an important role, as India has a high-performance school in this field. The ReLax international research laboratory (IRL), for example, is a hub for exchange between French and Indian mathematicians. In biology, MIRA and BPRI are international research networks (IRN) especially active in infectious diseases. There are also multiple international research projects (IRP) in chemistry, especially in materials science (LAFICS2, NAMASTE, APONAMA), in addition to engineering (MEGATRON) and physics (DynoutSys). In total, CNRS institutes support fifteen structured cooperations with India, which in my opinion is still insufficient.

The International Research Laboratory ReLaX, based in Chennai © CMI

In what fields are Indian scientists seeking to expand their collaboration with the CNRS?

We are currently seeing numerous requests relating to semiconductor materials, in keeping with the country’s concern for technological sovereignty and reduced foreign dependence. AI and quantum technology have also sparked great interest, as have defence and space technologies, such as the Trishna satellite mission (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment), which should be launched this year. Led primarily by the French space agency CNES and the Indian space agency ISRO, the mission will observe the Earth’s surface with a thermal focus, doing so with unmatched resolution and revisiting frequency. CNRS Earth & Space is actively participating, notably via the Centre for the Study of the Biosphere from Space (CESBIO), a CNRS joint lab in Toulouse. The scientific and societal impact of the Trishna mission will be considerable, especially with respect to water management in agriculture and the study of urban microclimates, to name just a few. India has also affirmed its intention to enter the quantum technology race with the National Quantum Mission (NQM), which was approved in 2023. Its goal is to stimulate scientific and industrial R&D, create a dynamic and innovative ecosystem, and position the country as a major actor in the field over the short term.

Established in 1955, the French Institute of Pondicherry is one of the largest existing UMIFREs. © IFP

You assumed your duties in New Delhi six months ago. What is your view of this experience, your mission, and the ongoing evolution of scientific cooperation between France, Europe, and India?

India is a country of extraordinary cultural wealth and diversity, which surprises every day. The society often seems complex to me, but also profoundly human: this human dimension is central to all my encounters. For a European the points of reference can be different, as social codes are not always the same. This requires great capacity to adapt; it is an experience from which I have drawn many lessons each day.

As the CNRS representative in India, my mission is simple: to strengthen India’s role in the CNRS’s international cooperation network. The internationalisation of research is an essential driver of progress, as it helps expand knowledge by promoting the exchange of ideas as well as the mobility of talent in connection with essential and complex scientific issues. Today it is crucial to tackle global issues and maximise research impact. Modes of cooperation are changing, as are scientific priorities, funding, and strategic topics, in France and Europe as well as India. My role is to be attuned to this, and to relay these evolutions to the scientific communities of both countries. This entails an approach that is simultaneously strategic and operational, with a view to developing and facilitating CNRS cooperations.

Today India plays a major role in the global scientific landscape. Our collaboration with multiple Indian research actors deserves to be amplified, and structured to a greater degree over the long term. In the face of limited resources and constantly evolving national thematic priorities, it is important to make informed choices. For me India is not just a strategic partner that should be taken into account, but rather a promise for the future. By virtue of its demographic and geographic weight, it will become an increasingly important actor on the global scene. This observation is incidentally shared across Europe: India and the European Union recently strengthened their scientific and technological links as part of a broader free trade agreement. This collaboration illustrates the growing alignment of the two powers over technological issues, a strong signal for the years to come. The year 2026 also marks the official launch of the India-France Year of Innovation. France’s presence at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi reflects this, and marks this desire to intensify strategic partnerships with India in fields such as innovation, artificial intelligence, and future technologies.

The stakes are considerable, and this relation should be built with respect over the long term. It is important to invest in this country.

• 1The network for joint units with a French institute abroad (UMIFRE) includes 27 research centres that are located, along with their satellite offices, in nearly 40 countries across all continents. These research institutes are under the joint supervisory authority of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the CNRS.