European tech industry coalition calls for ‘radical action’ on digital sovereignty — starting with buying local

She suggests that there is a need for subsidies in some form, but not in excessive amounts.

Pooling and federating approaches are recommended in the letter to encourage European technologists to collaborate and develop common standards to accelerate the scaling of digital infrastructure. Working together can help European providers compete with U.S. hyperscalers in areas like cloud computing. The letter emphasizes the importance of supporting projects that address basic infrastructural needs and advocate for projects that prioritize hardware autonomy and sovereign cloud and platforms.

The letter also highlights the importance of Europe maintaining its digital sovereignty by supporting the development of harmonized requirements for public and private cloud users to opt for sovereign cloud services. It suggests redirecting EU support towards homegrown tech infrastructure with the strongest potential to scale.

Additionally, the letter calls for the establishment of a Sovereign Infrastructure Fund to support public investments in European digital infrastructure, particularly in capital-intensive areas like chips and quantum computing. The fund would not require large amounts of money and could be strategically targeted, such as towards maintaining open source infrastructure.

The Euro Stack coalition criticizes current EU efforts on digital sovereignty as ineffective and calls for industry-led efforts to achieve strategic autonomy in digital infrastructure. The letter urges the EU to rethink its approach and focus on tangible commercial efforts rather than academic and experimental R&D. However, the main message remains the same: urging the bloc’s lawmakers to step aside when it comes to crucial decision-making regarding Europe’s diminishing digital infrastructure prospects, and instead utilize their “convening powers to mobilize industry to actively assist in coordinating and validating a continent-wide strategy to support a European digital sovereign effort,” as stated in the pitch paper.

The industry coalition proposes that the European Commission should promptly establish and convene working groups with industry to translate its tech sovereignty ambition into tangible actions to assist Europe during this critical period of security and strategic autonomy.

DailyTech contacted the European Commission for a response to the Euro Stack proposal, but has not received a reply at this time.

A variety of business associations, including Connect Europe, the OSBA, European Digital SME Alliance, European Startup Network, and France Digitale among others, have endorsed the letter alongside tech companies. Caffarra notes that while some European entrepreneurs and investors aim to have an exit to U.S.-owned Big Tech, there is a need for European alternatives to this approach.

Johan Christenson, founder of European cloud provider Cleura, supports the Euro Stack proposal, suggesting that Europe requires a new Airbus-like project focused on digital to succeed. Any Yen, founder of privacy tools maker Proton, emphasizes the need for a shift in mindset towards “Europe First” to address the lack of demand for European tech and promote investment in local capabilities.

Yen highlights the importance of requiring European public sector procurement to prioritize European technologies to boost the development of the tech sector. He believes that the DMA alone is not sufficient to address the dominance of Big Tech in Europe, hence Proton’s support for the Euro Stack initiative. The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) may have the ability to impact American GDP through fines, but it is unlikely to stimulate growth in European GDP as it fails to generate the demand necessary for economic expansion.

Critics, including industry leaders like Yen and Karlitschek, are vocal about the Commission’s outdated focus on the past rather than embracing a forward-looking approach for the future of Europe. They highlight the urgent need to listen to entrepreneurial voices that have long advocated for change.

Karlitschek emphasizes the risks of maintaining the status quo, pointing to data security concerns and the potential for economic coercion by the U.S. under an America First agenda. He proposes strategic shifts in European procurement rules to promote open source technologies, fostering innovation and competitiveness in the tech sector.

Additionally, Karlitschek calls for greater support for European open source companies in government contracts, citing digital sovereignty as a key driver for leveraging open source software. He also advocates for standardized APIs to facilitate seamless workload migration across cloud providers, promoting collaboration and scalability among European service providers.

In contrast, Caffarra urges a more radical approach, emphasizing the need for the EU to address underlying tech infrastructure issues rather than focusing solely on regulating tech giants. She warns that much of the tech infrastructure vital for digital autonomy is beyond European control, necessitating a comprehensive survival strategy rather than incremental regulatory measures.