India & Israel Elevate Ties to ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ with Strong Focus on AI, Digital Health & Innovation

The leaders have called for the first Joint Working Group on Health to convene in early 2026. The collaboration will focus on healthcare innovation, AI-enabled health systems, digital transformation, and knowledge exchange between institutions.

India and Israel have upgraded their bilateral ties to a “Special Strategic Partnership for Peace, Innovation & Prosperity,” placing artificial intelligence, Digital Health, and emerging technologies at the heart of future collaboration.

A key highlight is the signing of the MoU on Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), alongside an agreement to advance AI-led education and institutional collaboration. Leaders have emphasized the role of AI as a transformative force in healthcare delivery, predictive analytics, clinical research, and digital public infrastructure.

Both sides have agreed to strengthen linkages between AI professionals, research bodies and industry players to accelerate responsible and scalable AI deployment.

In Digital Health, the two governments have called for the first Joint Working Group on Health to convene in early 2026. The collaboration will focus on healthcare innovation, AI-enabled health systems, digital transformation, and knowledge exchange between institutions.

India’s expanding digital public health infrastructure and Israel’s advanced med-tech and AI capabilities are expected to complement each other in areas such as remote monitoring, cybersecurity in healthcare, and data-driven clinical decision-making.

The leaders have also reinforced cooperation in cybersecurity, including plans for an India-Israel Centre of Excellence in Cybersecurity in India. Given the rising digitisation of health records and connected medical devices, strengthening cyber resilience is viewed as critical to safeguarding patient data and maintaining trust in Digital Health ecosystems.

On research and innovation, both nations have increased joint research funding under the India-Israel Joint Research Calls and agreed to expand the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Innovation Fund (I4F).

Contributions to joint academic research have risen from USD 1 Mn to USD 1.5 Mn each, encouraging collaborative studies, researcher exchanges and shared use of advanced facilities.

Financial technology cooperation, including efforts to link India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with Israel’s payment systems, is expected to further support cross-border digital services, including health-tech transactions and innovation investments.

The leaders reaffirmed that this next phase of collaboration is intended to deliver practical outcomes in research, healthcare transformation and technology-led prosperity for both nations.

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