European technology companies advocate for the development of a “Eurostack” and reducing dependence on the United States
Kyiv • UNN
More than 100 European companies are calling on the EU to develop its own digital infrastructure, reducing dependence on American technologies. They propose to stimulate local innovation and protect data.
More than 100 European technology companies and organizations have appealed to the European Commission to radically change its approach to digital infrastructure, reducing dependence on American technologies. This is reported by TechCrunch, writes UNN.
Details
According to the media, in an open letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the EU digital administration, Hanne Virkkunen, more than 80 people who signed it (representing about 100 organizations) stated that they want regional legislators to rethink current support measures, focusing them on promoting the implementation of domestic alternatives with the highest commercial potential - from applications, platforms and artificial intelligence models to chips, computing, storage and connections.
Companies covering areas such as cloud technologies, telecommunications, defense, as well as several regional business and start-up associations, signed a letter that was sent to the Commission on Sunday, calling on the bloc to transfer its technology strategy to a quasi-military basis, taking on the obligation to support "sovereign digital infrastructure".
The plan aims to reduce dependence on foreign large technology companies by actively promoting the development of the so-called "Eurostack".
The idea of a European digital infrastructure did not come out of thin air - in January, an article by Euro Stack was published, written, in particular, by competition economist Khrystyna Kaffarra, in which this strategy is outlined in some detail.
Over the past six months, there have also been separate discussions at conferences about the opportunities for Europeans to take advantage of the geopolitically difficult moment to insist on the adoption by the EU of a digital industry strategy that would be directly focused on supporting local innovation.
"Imagine Europe without internet search, e-mail or office software. This would mean the complete collapse of our society. Sounds unrealistic? Something similar just happened to Ukraine," Wolfgang Ols, chief operating officer of the Berlin-based tree planting search engine Ecosia, one of the signatories to the letter and who has already taken steps to reduce its dependence on suppliers of large US technology companies, told TechCrunch.
Trump cut off access to vital infrastructures because Ukraine was not ready to give up its land and transfer its mineral resources. Europeans need sovereignty in critical infrastructures, and they include not only energy and healthcare, but certainly digital
The coalition's message contains the first piece of advice on actions regarding the European technology industry, as well as a strict warning about the dangers of the bloc maintaining its current position.
Supporters of Euro Stack suggest that without urgent measures to stimulate demand for European technologies, there is a risk that American hyperscalers will completely seize critical digital infrastructure in industries such as cloud computing. They openly predict that: "Europe will lose digital innovation and productivity growth without large-scale and urgent changes".
At the current rate, our dependence on non-European technologies will become almost complete in less than three years
What the technology industry coalition proposes:
Mandate "Buy European"
It is required that EU public authorities purchase at least part of their digital needs from European suppliers, thus supporting local manufacturers. This should stimulate demand and attract investment.
Investment in digital infrastructure
It is proposed to create a Sovereign Infrastructure Fund to support investments in key technological sectors, including microchips and quantum computing.
Association and federation
Encouraging European technology companies to work together, standardize and integrate to create common platforms and infrastructure, which will allow them to better compete with American giants.
"This means that we will have to work with the industry again to quickly inventory resources, support open source solutions and compatibility (both technically and commercially), combine "best in class" existing assets, support the implementation of integration platforms and low barriers to compliance - while complying with localization and security requirements," the letter says, - advocating that priority be given to "projects that solve basic infrastructure needs, such as autonomy and security".
Support for local startups
Supporting European startups through the creation of subsidy mechanisms and incentives to switch to domestic suppliers and invest in innovative projects.
Rethinking the digital sovereignty strategy Proposal to revise existing EU strategies in the field of digital sovereignty, focusing on real commercial investments, and not only on academic or experimental R&D.
Data protection and sovereignty
Implementing requirements for public and private cloud services to ensure that confidential data of European users is stored in sovereign clouds, protected from non-European extraterritorial laws.
