EuroStack
Read the Euro-Stack Industry letter here Euro-Stack – The Letter
Visit the website www.euro-stack.eu
Press:
https://www.politico.eu/article/airbus-dassault-others-press-von-der-leyen-for-made-in-europe-tech/
European tech companies urge the EU to help in building up sovereignty – Euractiv
Airbus leads call for Europe to create sovereign infrastructure fund, buy European | Reuters
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/eu-digital-sovereignty-could-be-good-for-everyone/
Europeiska företag i öppet brev till EU: ”Vi måste bryta oss ur inlåsningen” – Techtidningen – (translation below)
Post | LinkedIn – Max Henning
Techtidningen.se (translation)
European companies in open letter to the EU: “We need to break out of lockdown”
A large number of European companies and organizations have signed an open letter to the European Commission. The purpose of the letter is to highlight the urgent need for Europe to strengthen its digital sovereignty. Tech magazine spoke to Eurostack’s initiator Cristina Caffara about the open letter and what response they hope to get from the Union.
The purpose of the letter is to highlight the urgent need for Europe to strengthen its digital sovereignty and to reduce its dependence on non-European technology solutions. The letter is addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Vice-President Henna Virkkunen.
The letter highlights the geopolitical risks posed by Europe’s current dependence. Especially in light of the dominance of the US and China in digital infrastructure.
According to the authors of the letter, Europe faces a situation where, without action, it risks losing its technological autonomy within three years. The authors argue that Europe must act with a proactive industrial policy instead of relying solely on regulations to solve this.
In the open letter, the authors list a number of demands and proposed actions:
Creating demand
- Industry will invest if there are sufficient demand prospects.
- There must be clear, objective and strong procurement requirements – a formal obligation for the public sector to buy European.
- The private sector needs incentives to steer some of its demand towards European suppliers to enable sovereign solutions.
Creating a viable supply chain
- Support a ‘pooling and federation’ approach and common industry standards to create scalable European alternatives.
- Work with industry to rapidly inventory resources and support open source and interoperability.
- Prioritize projects that address basic infrastructure needs, such as hardware autonomy, sovereign cloud services and platforms.
Prioritize services with high adoption
- Support services that meet real needs, for example in cybersecurity.
- Define business drivers (BD), critical success factors (CSF) and key performance indicators (KPI) for all funded projects.
- Participants in funded projects should be selected based on their contribution to a federated model and measurable market outcomes.
Introducing harmonized requirements for sovereign cloud services
- European cloud users must be able to ensure that their most sensitive data is protected from access or disruption by foreign laws.
- The European Cloud Security Certification (EUCS) should be reinforced to the highest criteria or postponed until a better solution is found.
How to finance it:
- Reallocate existing Digital Decade funds to concrete, market-relevant and result-oriented projects.
- Establish a Sovereign Infrastructure Fund for public investment in capital-intensive sectors such as quantum technologies and semiconductors.
- Complement existing initiatives by working with national innovation institutions, independent funds and venture capitalists.
- Consider creating a European Dynamism Fund of Funds.
“We expect the European Commission to welcome the offer”
The letter underlines that industry is ready to invest if the right conditions are created. It asks the European Commission to quickly take the initiative to mobilize and coordinate industry to turn the ambition of technological sovereignty into concrete action. The authors express their willingness to cooperate with the EU and discuss a feasible plan.
Eurostack’s initiator Cristina Caffara tells Tech magazine about the open letter and the response they hope to get from the Union.
How do you feel now that the letter has been sent and has so many signatures?
– It feels great that such a large group of industry stakeholders could so quickly rally behind the letter. It shows that there is a huge motivation within the industry to actively participate in restoring Europe’s digital sovereignty. We have the assets and the capabilities, and recent geopolitical developments have accelerated this determination enormously,” said Cristina Caffara.
How do you expect the EU to react to this?
– We expect the European Commission to welcome the offer of support and cooperation from industry and to quickly engage in a cooperative discussion to harness industry’s willingness to step up and act.
What would you consider a successful response from the EU?
– Listen to industry; issue immediate mandates to steer demand to ‘buy European’. The public sector is huge, yet it is absurd that if the European Commission does a live stream, it does it on Youtube, talking to us on Microsoft Teams. Our proposal would help drive demand, as well as incentivize private companies to also buy European for some of their needs. We need to break out of the lock-in and dependencies on US hyperscalers. We have the assets and talent to provide European offers and create competitive space for European suppliers.
Below pasted are those paywalled:
Politico Morning Tech
DRIVING THE DAY
HERE FIRST — COMPANIES ASK VON DER LEYEN FOR EUROPEAN TECH EFFORT: Dozens of European companies, including heavyweights like Airbus and Dassault, are pressing the European Commission to make Europe more technologically sovereign.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and tech boss Henna Virkkunen, seen by Morning Tech exclusively ahead of its public release this morning, the companies say Europe needs to be “more technologically independent across all layers of its critical digital infrastructure.”
Strained ties: The companies cite the Munich Security Conference — where U.S. Vice President JD Vance gave a speech that chilling to many European ears — as well as “subsequent” U.S. measures and other developments in the transatlantic relationship as reasons for their request.
The firms argue that Europe should step up its technological game regarding physical infrastructure (such as microchips, computing capabilities and data storage capacity) and the applications and platforms that run on top of that hardware.
Eurostack debate heats up: The plea is music to the ears of advocates of a Eurostack, the idea of building out a core European tech infrastructure across three layers (hard infrastructure, intermediary services such as cloud services, and applications) and reduce Europe’s many dependencies on U.S. Big Tech.
What do they want from Brussels? The Commission needs to “mobilize industry” for a “continent-wide strategy” to make Europe more digitally sovereign, the letter reads.
Some of the more specific demands are a “Buy European” requirement for governments to prop up demand for companies (which would allow them to invest), harmonized industry standards and a “sovereign infrastructure fund” to support investments in more capital-intensive industries, such as chips and quantum technology.
Who is asking this? Among the signatories are Airbus, the French public investment bank Bpifrance; European cloud companies including Scaleway, OVHCloud, and Nextcloud, several tech industry alliances including France Digital, the European Digital SME Alliance, and Connect Europe, and smaller European tech companies like Proton and Ecosia.
Hear from a signatory: Morning Tech caught up with Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud, one of the letter’s signatories.
“I don’t think the goal is to be completely independent from the U.S. or the rest of the world … but at least have some assets so that we can at least negotiate,” Karlitschek said.
Karlitschek urged Brussels to enforce its slate of tech rulebooks, such as the Digital Markets Act, to create a level playing field.
The Commission can also play a role by favoring open-source technology in public procurement, Karlitschek added. “It would immediately create an explosion of startups, of innovation, of new products in Europe” and current U.S. suppliers would be disadvantaged since they’re not open-source, he said.
The FT https://www.ft.com/content/66853322-4e82-45bd-8635-39befbc6b8dc
Tech support
Proton, Airbus and dozens of other European businesses and associations are urging Brussels to invest more in the bloc’s digital infrastructure, writes Barbara Moens.
Context: Europe is waking up to its heavy reliance on American digital infrastructure and services. Just as the bloc wants to invest more in its own security and economic competitiveness, there are growing calls to focus on tech sovereignty, for which digital infrastructure is key.
“Europe needs o recover the initiative and become more independent across all layers of its critical digital infrastructure,” the businesses and associations wrote in a letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and its tech chief Henna Virkkunen, seen by the Financial Times.
“Time is of the essence and industry is prepared to invest if there are conditions for viable returns,” they added.
The groups are pushing for a “sovereign infrastructure fund” to support areas such as quantum computing and chips, which require high investments. They also argue that public investment should focus on European producers, helping to boost demand for EU tech suppliers.
The letter follows a series of earlier initiatives to support Europe becoming more self-reliant when it comes to digital and tech, such as Eurostack, which aims to create a European tech infrastructure.
However, critics argue such initiatives are costly and time-intensive and that the bloc is better off focusing on a number of specific tech industries where it has a better chance to catch up, such as artificial intelligence.
European Parliament, Brussels
24th September 2024
View the event website here
Watch the recorded livestream
