India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030: Nice Summit 13 Key Outcomes

The Innovation Roadmap 2030 is a bilateral framework providing long-term direction to cooperation in critical and emerging technologies. It covers deep tech, semiconductors, agritech, medtech, renewable energy, defence and space.

Three major institutional mechanisms were established under the roadmap:

• Joint India-France AI Working Group — for cooperation on AI and its global governance; extends the 2025 India-France AI Roadmap on safe, open and trustworthy AI
• Centre of Digital Sciences — linking India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) with France’s national research institute INRIA
• ICCR India Chair on “AI, Innovation and Culture” — at Universite Paris-Saclay

The bilateral talks produced a wide spread of agreements and new institutional mechanisms. The principal outcomes include:

• Adoption of the Innovation Roadmap 2030 and creation of the Joint India-France AI Working Group
• A high-level mechanism to double bilateral trade within five years
• A new Dialogue on Economic Security covering supply-chain resilience in critical minerals
• Signing of 19 agreements between innovation institutions of both countries
• Expanded use of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in more French cities
• MoU for a National Centre of Excellence for Skilling in Aeronautics at NSTI, Kanpur
• Incubation of 10 additional Indian startups at Station F, Paris
• Letter of Intent between ICMR and France’s Health Data Hub
• Declaration of Intent on cooperation in railway and high-speed rail development in India
• General Security Agreement on the Exchange and Protection of Classified Information
• ISRO-CNES Letter of Intent on microgravity research and human space exploration

The Dialogue on Economic Security focuses on supply-chain resilience in critical minerals, semiconductors, critical technologies, energy and cybersecurity. Critical minerals — used in batteries, electronics and renewable-energy systems — are a global priority given competition to secure these inputs.

India-France bilateral trade has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching €13.59 billion (approximately USD 15.81 billion) in 2025-26, with Indian exports to France at around €6.1 billion. France is India’s third-largest trading partner within the EU (after the Netherlands and Germany) and India’s 11th largest foreign investor, with cumulative FDI of roughly €10.50 billion since 2000.

Both leaders called for early implementation of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, signed on 27 January 2026, which is expected to accelerate bilateral trade flows.

The expansion of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in France builds on a milestone from January 2024, when India’s real-time payment system — developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) — went live at the Eiffel Tower as the first French merchant location to accept it. The Nice talks extended its scope to additional French cities.

Station F in Paris, one of the world’s largest startup campuses, will incubate 10 more Indian startups, giving them access to French investors and market networks. This is in addition to startups already hosted there.

The Bharat Innovates 2026 conclave at the Palais des Expositions in Nice showcased 120 innovative startups and over 20 Institutes of Excellence across 13 critical technology domains, drawing more than 350 investors and venture capitalists from around the world.

France has set an ambitious target of hosting 30,000 Indian students by 2030, up from an expected 10,000 in 2025. This is supported by schemes such as the International Classes programme, which teaches French language and academic methodology to incoming students.

Both sides agreed to expand mutual recognition of educational qualifications. Prime Minister Modi invited French universities to establish campuses in India under the National Education Policy (NEP), while welcoming President Macron’s commitment to support Indian students in France. PM Modi also thanked the French side for swift implementation of visa-free airport transit for Indian nationals travelling through France.

Beyond innovation, the two leaders reviewed defence collaboration and agreed to intensify co-design, co-development and co-production of defence platforms and advanced technologies.

In space, ISRO and CNES will expand cooperation in human spaceflight and space situational awareness, with scope for greater private-sector participation. In civil nuclear energy, both sides noted that India’s SHANTI Act had opened avenues for cooperation in small and advanced modular reactors.

Following the Nice leg, PM Modi was scheduled to participate in the Vivatech event in Paris and travel to Slovakia before attending the G7 Summit in Evian, where India was invited as a partner country.