Geopolitics of AI in a Multipolar Context

Claudio Feijóo

Keynote: Drawing on my background as a telecommunications engineer, economist, some time with the policy-makers, more than three decades of engagement with IEEE, and direct experience with AI technology ecosystems in China and Europe, I will examine how (agentic) AI is reshaping the global balance of technological and economic power. In a multipolar world, AI is no longer just a field of scientific progress; it has become a strategic arena in which states, firms, and regional blocs compete through control of data, compute, talent, standards, and the infrastructures that enable innovation at scale. I will argue that this competition is not defined only by frontier models or radical breakthroughs, but also by mission-driven public investment, domain-specific adaptation, and the steady accumulation of advantage through incremental innovation, deployment, and integration across sectors.

The talk will also address the geopolitical importance of global value chains, especially semiconductors, cloud platforms, and hyperscale infrastructures, which increasingly determine who can develop and govern AI on their own terms. From this perspective, many regions of the world hold important strengths in research, industrial capabilities, and trusted governance, yet still face structural dependencies that may constrain its strategic autonomy unless innovation policy, industrial strategy, and digital infrastructure are better aligned. I will discuss how the future of AI is likely to emerge not under a single dominant power, but through a fragmented and interconnected order in which leadership depends on combining technological capacity, resilient supply chains, regulatory influence, and long-term strategic coordination.

Bio: Claudio Feijóo is Full Professor at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), where he works at the intersection of technology, innovation, and geopolitics. He holds MSc and PhD degrees in Telecommunication Engineering, as well as an MSc in Quantitative Economics. He has held professional assignments across five continents, including roles at the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Industry, and has built an extensive international profile linking academia, policy, and innovation practice. He has been a member of IEEE since 1992, reflecting more than three decades of sustained engagement with the global engineering and computing community.

From 2014 to 2020, while based in Shanghai, he led cooperation initiatives with leading Asian universities and launched XiJi Incubator, the first incubation programme for Spanish-linked entrepreneurs in China, recognized with the Universities International Award by El Mundo in 2020. For his contributions to innovation and technology ties between Spain and Asia, he received Casa Asia’s 2025 annual award in the Economy and Business category. He currently coordinates for the European Commission the expert group on digital technologies and policies in China, and serves on several of Spain’s leading technology and AI advisory bodies, including AESIA, Banco de España, and the investment committees of ICO Next Tech and SETT. From 2022 to 2025, he held the Jean Monnet Chair in Technology Diplomacy and Digital Sovereignty at UPM, and from 2020 to 2025 he served as UPM’s Director for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He has more than 25 years of experience as a founder and mentor of start-ups, is currently engaged in the quantum communications venture Qoolnet, and has led major international initiatives on AI for the public sector and education such as AI4Gov (EC’s Digital Skills and Jobs award in 2023) and its follow-on projects. Claudio Feijóo has published more than 300 works, with over 4,600 citations, serves on the editorial boards of leading academic journals, and is the author of recent books on China, technology, and international geostrategy (among them, “El gran sueño de China” KnowSquare award in 2023).