Colombia Launches Third Round of AI Funding

By Castillo Grau Abogados

Colombia's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation opened the ColombIA Inteligente 2026 call on March 17, allocating roughly USD 6.47 million to fund applied research, technological development, and innovation projects based on artificial intelligence and quantum science and technologies, aimed at solving concrete territorial problems and strengthening the country's scientific capacity. 

This is the third consecutive edition of the program. The initiative looks to position Colombia as a protagonist of a new scientific step in the region. 

A defining feature of the program is its mandatory collaborative architecture. Each proposal must be submitted through a strategic alliance comprising at least one higher education institution, one national company, and three local organizations — such as community groups, NGOs, or regional entities. 

The call also opens participation to peasant associations, agricultural cooperatives, Black community councils, and other formally constituted rural productive organizations, reinforcing the initiative's territorial and inclusive focus. Projects must demonstrate that they advance from prior research results into real-world validation, scaling up and community appropriation — not simply academic outputs.

On the AI side, thematic lines include wildlife risk management and conservation, among other applied areas. The quantum axis covers quantum information processing and secure communications, quantum sensing and metrology, and sustainable energy and strategic minerals. 

Colombia has already invested the equivalent of USD 17.18 million in AI capacity building and financed 164 research and innovation projects, alongside USD 117.6 million in high-level training and postdoctoral programs through alliances with Colfuturo, Fulbright, ICETEX, and universities. 

On the regulatory side, the country has moved to establish a legal framework alongside its funding programs. In July 2025, Congress begun discussion of an Artificial Intelligence bill designed to ensure that AI development, implementation, and use in Colombia are carried out with criteria of equity, transparency, ethics, innovation, and sovereignty. The bill integrates contributions from more than thirteen prior legislative proposals and from the productive sector, academia, and civil society. 

Colombia also adopted CONPES 4144, a national AI policy document that establishes axes and action lines across ethics and governance, technological infrastructure, talent development, risk management, intellectual property, and inclusion — with a five-year implementation horizon running from 2025 to 2030. 

The current government also announced it is working with the University of Valle on building Colombia's first quantum computer, as part of an effort to strengthen research labs and establish knowledge hubs in the country. A quantum science alliance has been formed with partners in Latin America, Canada, the United States, and China to promote quantum technology transfer to universities and research centers.