The vice president of IndesIA and Chief Information Officer of Gestamp, Pablo de la Puente, has emphasized that the current challenge is no longer just about debating artificial intelligence (AI), but about making its deployment translate into measurable results and an effective impact, with a special focus on SMEs.
IndesIA, the association aimed at boosting the data economy and artificial intelligence, has organized this Thursday its "V IndesIA Forum" at the Madnum Auditorium by Gestamp.
About 300 professionals have attended the event, where leading experts have presented the trends that will mark the short and medium term of this technology, as well as the major challenges faced by companies, particularly small and medium-sized ones, when incorporating AI.
The day was inaugurated with the intervention of De la Puente, who welcomed the participants and insisted on the urgency of reindustrializing Spain, highlighting the opportunity that AI represents to advance in that direction.
De la Puente also emphasized the key role of public-private collaboration and the need to join efforts to accelerate technological modernization, in a scenario marked by increasingly intense international competition.
Then the general director of the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI), José Moisés Martín, took the floor, who pointed out that Europe starts from a "disadvantage" in the global race for AI, although he specified that Spain occupies a relevant position. "We are the seventh country with the greatest investment dynamism in artificial intelligence and we have the potential to compete," he added.
On the other hand, the director of AI Research Strategy at Google, Pilar Manchón, has advocated for a people-focused AI and stressed that "technology must respond to human needs and those who develop it responsibly will gain a competitive advantage, as only in this way will they generate the necessary trust for it to be adopted, while ensuring that no one is left behind."
Manchón also emphasized "the need to adapt the rules to this new scenario, with regulation that provides security without stifling innovation."
IndesIA Barometer 2026: progress of AI in SMEs
The vice president and the general director of IndesIA, Pablo de la Puente and Nuria Ávalos, have announced the "IndesIA Barometer 2026," a study that examines how the adoption of artificial intelligence is progressing in Spanish industrial SMEs.
The report confirms that the use of AI continues to rise in Spain and that 4.1% of SMEs are already employing these solutions, which shows a continued growth after moving from 2.1% in 2024 to 2.9% in 2025.
The penetration of AI increases proportionally to the size of the companies.
Thus, in medium-sized companies with between 50 and 250 employees, adoption stands at 6.5%, compared to 5.1% of small companies, with workforces of between 10 and 50 workers, and 3.6% of microenterprises with fewer than 10 employees.
By technology families, generative AI and decision flow automation are gaining ground against more classic approaches like 'machine learning.'
From a territorial point of view, the Community of Madrid once again leads the adoption of artificial intelligence in SMEs, with 6.3%, followed by Catalonia, with 4.9%, and the Basque Country, which reaches 4.2%. In the rest of the autonomous communities, the pace of incorporation is more contained.
Public investment in AI and territorial imbalances
This edition of the barometer also includes an analysis of public investment directed at AI, which in 2025 amounted to 4.609 billion euros, 0.5% more than the previous year.
The Valencian Community, Catalonia, and Madrid were the regions that concentrated the largest volume of these public funds.
However, the document shows that the communities that allocate more resources are not necessarily the ones that exhibit higher levels of AI adoption by the business fabric.
In light of this reality, the study emphasizes the need to strengthen the alignment between public spending and the specific needs of the territories and sectors with the greatest capacity for implementation, in order to maximize the economic and social return of AI and promote a more balanced development throughout the country.
In the same direction, the president of IndesIA, Valero Marín, has expressed an urgent and ambitious message, relying on the indicators of the barometer, to accelerate the digital transformation of the Spanish industry.