India and France recently upgraded their relations to a Special Global Strategic Partnership in Feb. 2026, signalling close and deepening the all-weather relations between the two over the past few decades.
The visit of PM Modi to France comes few months after the visit of the French President Macron to India for the AI Impact Summit and to inaugurate the 2026 India-France Year of Innovation. This reflects the increasing depth of relations between the two power houses which are diversifying beyond the usual defence and security, civil nuclear cooperation, and economic & trade partnerships. While these areas will see further cooperation. Both nations envisage greater and deeper collaborations especially in areas of Technology, E-ship and AI.
The maiden edition of Bharat Innovates was held Nice, France from 14-16 June 2026 and was jointly inaugurated by PM Modi and French President Macron. India’s top 120 Deep Tech startups presented their innovative and tech driven ventures to catalyse pilots, co-development, investments, research partnerships, manufacturing and market access. The objective of this initiative is to identify, mentor, and showcase India’s most promising technology ventures from Higher Education Institutions and Technical Institutes bringing selected ventures to a global audience of investors, industry leaders, policymakers, research institutions, and technology partners.
Bharat Innovates 2026 was announced by the PM Modi, in Feb. 2026 and France was chosen for its first edition. The event invited global leaders, CEOs, investors and leading universities to collaborate with India’s innovation ecosystem. emlyon business school, one of the leading French and European business schools was invited to the Bharat Innovates event held in Nice. The event provided a platform for these startups to showcase their talent to an international audience, along with the presence of over 20 Institutes of Excellence, across 13 critical technology pillars of global importance. Over 350 top investors and venture capitalists from across the world also participated in the event.
Both India and France through their startups and sharing of technology and know-how can progress in areas such as Advanced Manufacturing for sustainable living and Green Hydrogen, Battery Technologies and Electric mobility. As well as spanning in other potential areas such as Quantum Computing, Semiconductors, Biotechnology, Defence, Space, Healthcare, MedTech, Clean Energy and other frontier sectors.
Dr. Alexander Bell, Director, emlyon venture labs Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategic Innovation Management at emlyon business school, France attended the Bharat Innovates event and was impressed by the presentation of the deep tech companies from India. He remarked, ‘We often talk about India as a supplier of IT talent. What I saw at Bharat Innovates were startups mastering deep-tech breakthroughs – space, semiconductors, defence, mobility, health – with a scientific depth that no longer needs to prove itself. Bharat Innovates is not just another conference. It’s a demonstration that a country can structure, at national scale, the interface between its research and global markets. That’s exactly the question European ecosystems need to ask themselves with the same ambition.’ Hence India (Bharat) innovates with France for the world.’
India-France ties are grounded in a long-standing technological, scientific and industrial partnership that has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years from aerospace, fintech to clean energy to startups. This demonstrates the potential of these two countries to build together through their scientific, entrepreneurial, and industrial strengths. The scale, speed and capability of Indian start-ups and budding entrepreneurs can be complimented by high tech innovations, cutting edge technology and potential for venture funding from France in particular, and EU in general for Indian innovation ecosystem. As PM Modi suggested, ‘the Indian mindset can collaborate with French and European technologies and their established ecosystem to jointly work towards global solutions that are trusted, inclusive and human centric.’ ‘There is a huge potential for greater academic, research and entrepreneurship collaboration between India and France. Students, researchers and entrepreneurs can learn from each other’s experiences and practices. For this, leading academic institutions, research and venture labs in both countries must collaborate and learn from each other’s innovation and tech ecosystem to allow greater facilitation of ideas, knowledge and practices between the two. This could lead to viable and scalable startups bringing cutting edge technologies and solutions for the markets and greater good of society.’ commented Dr. Nicolas Pejout, Executive Vice President, emlyon business school.
Both India and France should seize this opportunity to collaborate in realm of technology, AI and startups ecosystem to address the pressing needs and challenges of society, to come up with sustainable solutions that could be the salience of Indo-French cooperation in contributing to and leading the global technology landscape.
It reflects the shared commitment of India and France to foster a future-ready innovation ecosystem driven by collaboration, talent, and transformative technologies. Driven by ‘Connection and Conviction’, as well as ‘Innovation and Inspiration’ and most of all ‘their shared Values and Vision’ for ushering solutions to the global challenges.
*Mohit Anand is Prof of International Business and Strategy at EMLYON Business School, France. Rajesh Mehta is an International Affairs expert working on innovation & public policy.
