Europe in the face of the global challenge: progress, gaps and roadmap after a key year
The year 2025 has been particularly relevant for the advancement of digitalization, marked by technological advances that have reinforced the role of Europe and Spain in the digital economy. The United Nations declared 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and the advances made during this period have shown that this discipline has gone from being a scientific expectation to becoming an engineering field with visible results.
In quantum computing, key milestones have been achieved in systems improvement and error correction (QEC) techniques. Logical qubits have increased their stability and reduced their failure rate, which brings closer the real possibility of having more reliable and scalable machines. In addition, various experimental architectures have exceeded the threshold of 1,000 qubits, an advance that, despite the pending challenges in connectivity and fidelity, opens new options for quantum simulation applied to advanced materials, drug design or industrial applications.
In this context, Spain has taken a strategic step with the presentation of the Quantum Technologies Strategy 2025-2030, endowed with more than 800 million euros. This initiative will strengthen scientific, technological and industrial capacities in an area considered essential for digital sovereignty. Everything indicates that 2026 will bring significant progress in this direction.
Artificial intelligence has also lived a decisive year. The expansion of AI agents, capable of performing increasingly complex tasks with greater autonomy, has transformed business and personal processes. At the same time, smaller and more specialised language models have emerged – geared towards sectors such as health, law or programming – that offer greater efficiency and accessibility than mainstream models. Its integration into technology platforms and, progressively, personal devices anticipates widespread adoption.
However, these developments coexist with challenges that will set the 2026 agenda: the energy consumption of digital technologies, the development of sound ethical frameworks, data quality and governance, industrial scalability and the urgent need for digital training.
Cybersecurity, meanwhile, has established itself as one of the great challenges of the year. AI is driving more sophisticated defensive solutions, but it's also elevating the complexity of threats. In a global environment marked by uncertainty and conflict, investing in cybersecurity has become an essential element of European strategic autonomy.
Added to this is the importance of ensuring robust critical infrastructure. Digitalisation is not possible without a stable energy supply for data centres or without modern telecommunications networks capable of supporting future needs. Similarly, the shortage of digital talent continues to be a structural obstacle: demand is growing faster than supply, demanding answers from both the education system and continuing education.
Innovation linked to universities and research centres also needs a boost. The Spin-Offs Tech Ecosystem in Spain 2025 report, prepared by the Mobile World Capital Foundation together with the CSIC, highlights the need to streamline procedures, strengthen mixed teams and attract more private investment to scale technological projects. Spain already has 1,007 active spin-offs - 3.6% more than the previous year - and more than 66% come from the university field.
Another key pillar is the digitalisation of SMEs, which are responsible for the majority of employment and national GDP. Although large Spanish companies exhibit a remarkable level of digital maturity, the crucial challenge is for small and medium-sized companies to adopt technologies such as AI, cloud, cybersecurity or intelligent automation to gain global competitiveness.
At the European level, 2025 has been marked by an in-depth debate about the loss of competitiveness vis-à-vis the United States and China, driven by differences in technological investment, business scalability and regulatory agility. The Draghi and Letta reports (2024) agree: the Single Market works for goods, but remains fragmented in services, energy, telecommunications and capital markets, limiting growth and the ability to attract large investments.
In response, the EU has launched the Competitiveness Compass 2025, a roadmap to strengthen industrial capacity, accelerate technological innovation and ensure strategic autonomy. The strategy is structured around three main axes: closing the innovation gap by driving critical sectors such as AI, quantum computing, biotechnology and semiconductors; harnessing the green transition as an economic driver through affordable energy and accelerated renewables; and securing resilient raw materials and supply chains.
Alongside this, cross-cutting measures are proposed such as simplifying regulation, creating a Savings and Investments Union that mobilises European capital towards the real economy and removing the barriers that continue to hold back the Single Market, especially in services and telecommunications.
The 2025 stocktake shows important progress, but also an urgent need to accelerate. If Europe and Spain aspire to compete at the pace of other regions, it is essential to advance faster in the implementation of the Competitiveness Compass and in national policies that boost the economy, industry and society. Innovation, digitalisation and talent must remain the main drivers of progress. Spain has demonstrated that it has the resources, determination and capabilities to lead this way.
Author: Francisco Hortigüela, President of AMETIC
