Talking today about emerging technologies in the Basque Country It no longer means looking at distant trends or conducting foresight exercises without application. On two particularly strategic fronts -artificial intelligence and quantum computing- the territory is building capabilities, infrastructure and ecosystem. The question, therefore, is no longer whether these technologies will arrive, but how they will become a competitive advantage, talent and decision-making capacity for companies, technology centers and institutions.
That distinction matters. Because both AI and quantum computing are often presented as mere promises. And yet, in the Basque Country, the conversation is becoming more concrete: industrial adoption, talent development, public-private partnerships, new scientific infrastructure, and the ability to connect research with application. That’s where these technologies stop being just hype and start to truly matter.
AI is no longer an experimental layer
Artificial intelligence has moved beyond the phase in which many organizations viewed it as something interesting but still peripheral. In the Basque Country, organizations such as BAIC and GAIA are promoting AI in the region.through initiatives such as BidaIA, in the case of BAIC, and GAIAThrough its Acelera Pyme Office, they focus their work on accelerating adoption, strengthening the ecosystem, and positioning Basque capabilities internationally.
Regarding the BidaIA initiative, the Basque Government, in collaboration with IndesIA and BAIC, has activated specific programs to bring AI closer to SMEs. SPRI reported in February 2026 that more than one hundred companies They had enrolled in intensive workshops to identify use cases and adoption enablers. A month later, the same source indicated that more than 80 companies had shown initial interest and that nearly 30 had completed the training program, subsequently gaining access to a platform to test AI solutions without requiring large investments or advanced technical knowledge.
This logic is translating into quite concrete signs. In 2024, BAIC reported that the first AI assessment in the Basque Country placed the adoption of this technology at 12.2% of Basque companies. More recently, in March 2026, the center announced that it had reached 100 member organizations, reinforcing its role as a hub within the ecosystem.
For its part, GAIA throughout 2025 has carried out more than 10 training and awareness days on AI and has deployed more than 18 pilot projects in which a total of 12 companies from the GAIA ecosystem and 18 industrial companies from all over the Basque territory have participated.
Based on what has been presented so far, the conclusion is clear: AI in the Basque Country no longer operates solely within the realm of institutional discourse or cutting-edge laboratories. It is entering the competitive agenda of SMEs, which is precisely where much of the real impact is played out.
Besides, AI is increasingly present in the new developments and services that companies in the sector offer their clients; every process of automation, diagnosis, simulation, prospecting, etc., adds artificial intelligence to the market response, which represents a competitive advantage. strategic.
Quantum physics already has a real infrastructure in the Basque Country
If AI is in a phase of expansion, becoming increasingly visible, Quantum technology represents an emerging activity: incipient in experimentation, but with an enormous capacity to drive research, talent and international positioning.
Here, the Basque Country has taken a step that is hard to ignore. In October 2025, the Basque Government and IBM inaugurated the first operational IBM Quantum System Two in Europe and the sixth in the world in San Sebastián, within the IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computing Center. According to Irekia, this facility is part of the BasQ – Basque Quantum initiative, launched to consolidate the Basque Country as an international hub for quantum technologies.
The importance of this move lies not only in the headline, but also in what it enables. IBM explained that the system installed at the Basque center provides access to one of its most advanced quantum architectures, while the Basque Government has linked this infrastructure to global scientific collaborations, talent development, and its application in strategic areas for the region.
Furthermore, the strategy BasQ It does not start from scratch. Back in 2023, Irekia described BasQ as a strategy aimed at positioning Euskadi as a leading ecosystem in southern Europe for quantum research, talent and innovation, with an explicit commitment to advancing both scientific discovery and practical application and exploitation in business sectors.
On the other hand, there are other initiatives such as BIQAIN.- Bizkaia Quantum Advanced Industries, through which the territory of Bizkaia is committed to the knowledge and application of quantum technologies as a lever for social development and competitiveness of companies and the Territory, Gipuzkoa Quantum Hub This is the strategy to, in collaboration with the Basque Government, within the BASQ strategy, the research and business sectors, strengthen existing capabilities and position ourselves as an advanced benchmark in everything related to quantum technologies.
In addition, there are cluster-driven projects, as is the case with the project APP-TC, led by GAIA and co-financed by RED.es, which consists of developing 36 use cases with quantum technologies in strategic sectors such as industry, energy, defense, finance among others.
In other words: Quantum physics in the Basque Country is not just an aspirational narrative. It already has unique infrastructure, high-level international alliances, an emerging business network that is beginning to position itself nationally and internationally, and relevant public-private strategies.
The important thing is not choosing between AI or quantum physics
These two technologies are often presented as competing for attention. But the most interesting conversation isn’t which one will “win,” but how they complement each other within the same competitive framework.
AI is much closer to widespread adoption: it automates, predicts, classifies, optimizes, and helps with decision-making today. Quantum physics, on the other hand, targets problems of enormous complexity in simulation, materials science, optimization, and advanced computational science. One acts as an immediate accelerator of productivity and analytical capacity; the other as strategic infrastructure for the next technological frontier.
For decision-makers, this translates into a practical interpretation: AI is already part of the current agenda. Quantum physics is beginning to be part of the future positioning agenda. For technical professionals, the interpretation is complementary: AI requires integration, data, governance, and deployment. Quantum physics demands scientific capabilities, new skills, and connections to high-level ecosystems.
Euskadi wants to play in that match
This aligns perfectly with the DOK Summit’s narrative. DOK doesn’t want to simply discuss digitalization in the abstract, but rather address the major value drivers of the next decade from a practical, strategic, and applied perspective. Its key themes explicitly include artificial intelligence, the data economy, and quantum technologies, alongside the broader objective of positioning the Basque Country as a technological hub in Southern Europe.
It also resonates with its target audiences. The event’s approach itself combines technical profiles—CTOs, CIOs, developers, architects—with business decision-makers, institutions, and innovation leaders. This makes sense: neither AI nor quantum computing can be understood solely from a technical or managerial perspective. They are cross-disciplinary technologies. And they require simultaneous discussions about architecture, business, talent, regulation, and national vision.
From promise to capability
The fundamental question, then, is not whether the Basque Country “is part of the conversation” about AI and quantum physics. It is. The question is something else: whether it will be able to turn that presence into sustained capability.
The ability to adopt AI effectively and securely within their organizations. The ability to develop talent that not only uses the tools but also understands their logic and limitations. The ability to leverage quantum infrastructure not as a mere symbol but as a catalyst for research, talent attraction, and specialization. And the ability to connect all of this to real-world industry, market dynamics, and competitiveness.
That’s where emerging technologies cease to be a flashy category and become a strategic issue.
And that’s precisely why this conversation is worth following closely.
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AI represents the immediate adoption layer; quantum computing, the infrastructure of the next frontier.
In the Basque Country, both technologies already show concrete signs of progress: an AI ecosystem articulated both in the BAIC environment and in the GAIA cluster, and a quantum commitment reinforced by BasQ and the IBM Quantum System Two inaugurated in Donostia, as well as BIQAIN-Bizkaia Quantum Advanced Industries, Gipuzkoa Quantum Hub, among others.