Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to India in late February is the first major trip of her new European Commission presidential term. Meanwhile, ministers from both sides are set to hold an EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting. While the EU’s political will to engage with India is strong, however, these meetings risk being largely performative: especially regarding technology, past iterations of the TTC have had no substantial outcome.

But Europeans cannot afford to waste time. The return of Donald Trump to the White House—this time alongside advisor and tech billionaire Elon Musk—is imposing severe risks to the EU’s technological sovereignty. From threatening to retaliate against EU digital law to limiting the access of AI chips for most EU member states, the new US administration seems to perceive the EU as a digital colony rather than a valuable partner.

Now the EU should prioritise building deeper tech partnerships with third countries: and this effort should start with India.

Land of possibility

India has a vibrant innovation ecosystem with over 120,000 start-ups and the third-highest number of unicorns globally. It also has a leading role in specific domains of innovation that are of strategic importance to Europe—including quantum computing, semiconductors and space—and is ranked among the top five leading countries in 45 out of the 65 listed critical technologies. As the world’s most populous country, India is home to more than 1.4 billion people, with robust economic growth. Taken together, these factors make India an attractive partner in the context of Europe’s new competitiveness agenda, which would benefit from both new collaborations and new markets.

In addition, the EU’s and India’s geopolitical interests align in some key aspects. New Delhi aims to avoid technological dependence on China and left out Huawei and ZET from trials to set up the country’s 5G infrastructure in 2021. An EU and India tech partnership could also help more effectively deal with the challenges presented by China’s technological power, by striving towards technological sovereignty and de-risking from Chinese providers. In addition, recent US foreign policy shifts—as well as its worrying tech agenda—should alarm both sides. This alone could encourage them to develop a closer partnership to de-risk from US whims.

Of course, important divergences remain. India views Russia as a strategic ally and is unlikely to abandon this relationship, despite criticism from the EU towards Russia’s expansionist stance towards Ukraine and its attitude towards Europe in general. However, this divergence will not jeopardise the benefits of an ad-hoc technological partnership.

Stronger EU-India cooperation

There are three main ways in which the EU should pursue a deeper tech partnership with India.

1. Focus on DPI

First, the two sides should engage in close collaboration on sovereign digital infrastructure. India has pioneered the idea of digital public infrastructure (DPI), “India Stack”, based on a set of government-owned applications made available at low cost for businesses and citizens. It developed three foundational applications in this context: a digital identity, an online payment system, and a data-sharing platform. The Open Network for Digital Commerce is another notable initiative that democratises ecommerce and prevents any one company from gaining entrenched market dominance.

Europe has a lot to learn from the India Stack. Recently, US tech billionaires Musk and Mark Zuckerberg launched attacks against the EU’s digital regulation model which seemed to align with Trump’s vow to not let “Europeans take advantage of our companies”. This confrontation prompted experts to call for greater technological sovereignty through a “Euro Stack” initiative that would steer resources towards building relevant DPI solutions in Europe. Through the TTC, European and Indian DPI experts could set up a high-level advisory board, with a mandate to put forward recommendations on cost-effective European DPI solutions. Here, the EU can base its developments on India’s experience—while also expanding on it.

2. Towards joint innovation

Second, the EU and India should aim to boost technological innovation through aligning their respective ecosystems. India presents opportunities for collaboration with European innovation efforts, as well as for finding new investors and clients. Europeans should look for avenues of cooperation that facilitate exchanges to result in the co-development of frontier technologies. To this end, a new EU-India “joint innovation institute” comprised of a consortium of leading universities could promote research collaboration in areas such as secure semiconductors and space technology.

Financing opportunities that lead to commercialization—and benefit both consumers and other businesses—should back research collaborations. In the last 11 years, India has benefitted from €452mn worth of funding through both Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. The EU should consider expanding the quantity and quality of this: a dedicated EU-India Tech Fund under Horizon’s follow up programme could connect the two ecosystems on a long-term basis. The EU’s goal should be to double India’s participation by the end of the next Horizon programme in 2034 to reach €1bn.

Moreover, the majority of available funding opportunities should focus on frontier technology, including frontier AI development. In return, India should put forward harmonisation efforts with the EU’s digital regulations, especially in the areas of cyber and technological security.

3. Setting open standards

Third, the EU and India should examine further collaboration in shaping the global technology landscape. While recent pushes against regulation have limited the capacity for global regulatory convergence, there are still opportunities for setting open and democratic standards within international standard developing organisations (SDOs). Here, the TTC could act as an early warning mechanism for problematic behaviours of third countries within SDOs and become a forum to develop a common approach for standardisation strategies—and for disputed elections within SDOs.

4. Three’s company

Finally, the EU and India should examine opportunities for trilateral cooperation with partners in the global south which the Global Gateway initiative could finance, at least in part. The Global Digital Compact provides an array ideas from global south countries regarding how to boost their AI and digital preparedness: a matter not only of development policy, but geopolitical influence. Without effective partnerships, the EU and India leaves a void in regions such as Africa, south-east Asia and Latin America, which China’s Digital Silk Road and its own digital technologies can fill.

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All in all, the EU-India TTC is an unmissable opportunity for deeper technological collaboration between the two entities and could help Europe make progress towards its goals of boosting competitiveness. Most importantly, however, it would set the stage for a European digital diplomacy which seeks positive-sum partnerships in various countries which are also looking to secure their own digital sovereignty.