From strategy to implementation: the challenge of AI in Spain

Spain has already passed the stage of asking whether it should adopt artificial intelligence. The question that remains to be resolved is another, more demanding one: how to implement such adoption in a way that translates into real value for the economy and society. It is the central thesis of the last opinion column of Francisco Hortigüela, president of AMETIC, published in El Español.

From technology promise to transformation lever

For Hortigüela, AI has ceased to be a promise to become a real lever of transformation that already affects how we work, make decisions and generate value. The debate, he argues, is no longer technological, but strategic and, above all, execution: bringing AI to scale, integrating it safely and confidently, and turning investment into measurable results.

In his vision, the next decade will not be won by whoever innovates the most, but by whoever is able to transform that innovation into real impact.

Spain starts from a good position, but the challenge is to execute

The president of AMETIC underlines that Spain has solid starting assets for this moment: technological leadership in AI solutions, an innovative ecosystem and the talent needed to improve competitiveness and social inclusion. Taking advantage of that position, however, requires progress on several fronts at once:

• Strengthen public-private collaboration, between administrations, companies, academia and innovative ecosystem, with country projects endowed with funding and legislation that favors the adoption of AI.
• Improve public-public coordination , between ministries and between central, regional and local administrations.
• Encouraging private-private collaboration, in which large companies bring SMEs and competition is transformed, where necessary, into cooperation for a common goal.

The jump from pilot to production

One of the most direct diagnoses of the column is that many AI projects are stuck in intermediate phases, without being effectively deployed. To reverse this trend, Hortigüela points to three levers:

• Really operational test environments.
• Innovative public procurement mechanisms.
• Facilitate the transit of the pilot to the actual production.

In their own words, artificial intelligence cannot remain in a permanent phase of experimentation.

Governance, data and talent: the three transversal pillars

The column insists that governing AI is not just about managing risk, but making it possible to adopt it responsibly. Alongside governance, there are two other elements that Hortigüela considers essential:

• The economics of data. Without strong, secure and homogeneous frameworks that facilitate the exchange of data between companies and administrations, there will be no competitive or sovereign AI. Betting on interoperable and federated data models is, according to the author, a strategic country decision not to leave SMEs behind.
• Talent. Training, attracting and retaining skills – both technical, organisational and leadership – is, for Hortigüela, a prerequisite for AI to have a real impact.

Broaden the focus beyond large language models

Another point raised by the column is the need for public policy in AI not to focus solely on large language models. According to Hortigüela, there is not all the potential: process optimisation, machine vision, robotics or advanced decision support systems are applications that are already improving productivity and industrial competitiveness, especially for smaller companies.

To this is added the need to strengthen investment in R&D&I, in particular in the phases of applied and prototyping research, with agile and stable instruments that allow scaling good ideas and not leaving them trapped in the laboratory.

A leadership opportunity for Spain

The column concludes with an optimistic background message: With a shared vision, enhanced cooperation and a focus on implementation, artificial intelligence can become a lever for competitiveness, quality employment and social and territorial cohesion for Spain. In Hortigüela's own words, the country has the opportunity to lead the practical application of AI in Europe.

It is a message that connects directly with the role that organizations such as AMETIC have been defending: that the conversation about artificial intelligence in Spain ceases to be a question of diagnosis and becomes, once and for all, a question of execution.

Source: Francisco Hortigüela, ‘Artificial intelligence, from strategy to implementation’, El Español – Investía (21 April 2026).