On October 6 and 7, we concluded the fourth edition of Global Trends 2026: two days at the Castellana 81 Auditorium in Madrid that brought together more than 400 senior executives around one central idea: From Experimentation to Scale: Europe and Spain in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

 

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a technological issue, but a matter of competitiveness and infrastructure. It requires models, but also energy, networks, data centers, capital and talent. On the first day, we discussed Europe and Spain’s position in the global race — strategic autonomy, technological sovereignty, talent and mobility. On the second, we moved from strategy to execution, exploring the pharmaceutical industry as a case study in scaling, data centers and sustainability, transatlantic governance, security and defense, and the major reskilling of talent.

 

Spain has a unique window of opportunity: competitive renewable energy, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the AI Factories, the global reach of the Spanish language, and a relationship with the United States that exceeds €213 billion in cross-border investment.

 

The challenge is no longer about hosting infrastructure, but about scaling it. In 2025, 20.3% of Spanish companies with ten or more employees were using AI, yet 60% remained in the experimental phase and only 6% reported significant use.

 

The difference between opportunity and results will come down to execution, and the transatlantic relationship could become a competitive advantage for both Spain and Europe. The 2026–2031 window of opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.

 

Thank you to all the speakers and moderators who took the stage, representing companies and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic: Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), IBM, Palo Alto Networks, HP, Oracle, Anthropic, Uber, NetApp, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Iberdrola, Grupo ACS, Cisco, IQVIA Spain, McKinsey & Company, KPMG España, ManpowerGroup España and IE University, together with the U.S. Embassy Madrid, the Government of Aragon, the Community of Madrid, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), the United Nations and the U.S. Department of State.

 

And, of course, thank you to the more than 400 attendees who turned these two days into a high-level conversation about the future of AI, competitiveness and Europe’s role on the global stage.

 

A special thank you to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Google, Uber, IQVIA Spain, FTI Consulting Spain and Ecolab, and to POLITICO Europe and Europa Press for joining us as media partners for these two days.