Spain believes that the time has come to take the next step. After years of sustained growth in R&D investment, the deployment of strategic instruments, and the maturation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the challenge is no longer only to generate knowledge, but to turn it into technological capability and economic impact.
With that objective, the Deep Tech Spain 2026–2030 Strategy has been launched, promoted to position Spain among the leaders in the development, scaling, and industrialization of deep technologies: innovations based on advanced science, with high technological risk and great potential for economic and social transformation.
The strategy sets out a “stable, coherent, and integrative” framework to strengthen collaboration between universities, technology centers, companies, and public administrations, and to ensure that Spain’s scientific potential translates into prosperity, quality employment, and technological autonomy.
Strategic technologies for the future
The Strategy identifies ten priority scientific and technological areas linked to the so-called Deep Tech. The criterion combines the transformative potential of these technologies with their economic, industrial, and strategic impact.
Among the highlighted areas are artificial intelligence and data technologies, where Spain seeks to consolidate itself as one of the main European hubs thanks to the development of infrastructures, supercomputing, and advanced regulatory frameworks.
Biotechnology and health also occupy a central position, supported by an ecosystem of over one thousand companies and by the country’s international leadership in clinical trials.
This is complemented by technologies related to sustainability and clean energy, semiconductors, robotics, advanced connectivity, advanced materials, and quantum technologies, as well as the development of capabilities in sensors, photonics, and space technologies.
A broad but interdependent ecosystem
The Strategy describes a Deep Tech ecosystem supported by the interaction between multiple agents: universities, public research organizations, technology centers, startups, large industrial companies, investment funds, and support structures such as incubators, transfer offices, or science parks.
The objective is to build a value chain capable of connecting research, market, and society. To this end, special emphasis is placed on technology transfer, talent attraction, and coordination between public and private actors.
Three axes for building the Deep Tech ecosystem
The Deep Tech Spain Strategy is structured around three main axes:
The first focuses on strengthening the country’s scientific and technological capacities through specialised training, the attraction of international talent, and the reinforcement of research infrastructures. It highlights measures to promote knowledge transfer, the valorisation of industrial property, and the creation of new centres of excellence.
The second axis is aimed at the business fabric and seeks to improve the conditions for developing, validating, and scaling deep technologies. Here, the strategy advocates for public-private collaboration schemes, innovation public procurement, and new environments for technological experimentation and validation. It also includes a strengthening of public-private capital through instruments such as INNVIERTE, Next Tech, or the new Deep Start fund, designed to boost Deep Tech projects with high social impact.
The third axis is transversal in nature and seeks to build a more dynamic, coordinated, and competitive ecosystem. To this end, it proposes a new institutional governance framework, strengthened technological monitoring, and a more agile regulatory environment adapted to the specificities of Deep Tech. Among the planned initiatives are the creation of the National Deep Tech Observatory, a Network of Venture Builders and Deep Tech Factories, and new regulatory experimentation spaces to facilitate the validation and transfer of critical technologies.
Financing and governance
The strategy will have an estimated budget of more than 8 billion euros for the 2026–2030 period and will be led by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, with the participation of 13 ministries.
The governance model will rely on new institutional coordination bodies and public-private collaboration, as well as a monitoring system based on measurable indicators and the future National Deep Tech Observatory.
Compass Added value: The challenge is no longer to generate innovation; it is to ensure that it scales and remains in Europe
Europe has been detecting the same problem for years: it produces competitive science, but does not always manage to turn it into global companies. Spain now seems to assume that the challenge lies not only in doing more research, but in building structures capable of supporting the industrial and financial scaling of complex technologies. The key will be to see whether this strategy manages to reduce a long-standing fragmentation of the ecosystem. Because in Deep Tech, true leadership is not measured in scientific publications, but in the ability to transform knowledge into technological sovereignty.
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