Technical Solutions for Achieving Tech Sovereignty

The head of the German Federal Office for Information Security, Claudia Plattner, has deemed European efforts to replace foreign technology with homegrown solutions as “unrealistic” in the short term. This assertion highlights a critical need for enhanced technological governance over cloud platforms amidst increasing pressures for digital transformation.

In a recent blog post, Plattner stressed that public administration is facing significant digitalization demands, necessitating robust and reliable solutions. Currently, as many technological advancements occur outside Europe, a complete transition to local technologies appears impractical, particularly in the immediate future.

To address this challenge, the BSI aims to maintain control over foreign technology, enabling its use in a sovereign manner that ensures data security. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promoted tech sovereignty to close the innovation gap with the U.S. and China, focusing on integrating research and technological advances into the European economy.

With tensions in trade relations escalating since the Trump administration’s inception, European nations have intensified their initiatives to reduce reliance on American firms. In recent weeks, several countries, including Denmark and Germany, have initiated moves to eliminate Microsoft Windows and Office products, signaling a shift toward local alternatives.

Particularly concerning is the issue of cloud sovereignty, as leading providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud dominate 72% of the European market. The EU perceives this dependence as a threat to its strategic autonomy, compelling it to explore various measures to mitigate this risk.

Plattner advocated for the implementation of “technical control mechanisms” that would allow European governments to maintain oversight of data management. These could include employing robust cryptography and establishing independent cloud platforms within Europe. Organizations should have clear insight into their data shared with providers, and in critical cases, the cloud service provider ought to be European.

As there is currently no unified approach across Europe, variations in sovereignty models will likely emerge based on the specific data types and sectors involved, according to Martin Hosken, field CTO for Cloud Providers at Broadcom. However, such variations may introduce interoperability challenges, cautioned Katharina Sommer from NCC Group, who noted that individual countries favoring local solutions could impact international trade and agreements.