Conversation piece - Europe wants to end its dangerous reliance on US internet technology

Wrote a piece for the Conversation on why Europe needs to pivot away from its de facto strategy of placing almost all of its dependencies on far too few clouds, and more importantly, clouds that can become bricks in a geopolitical transatlantic game of chess. And yes, this issue is not limited to the cloud, but spans space and subsea infrastructure, semiconductor supply chains, and social media and communication platforms.

Fortunately, the topic is given more and more attention (although the laggards are far too many) as signalled in Davos by von der Leyen’s call for a new independence. While digital independence is neither realistic nor beneficial for Europe, the continent should do what it can to increase its sovereignty and resilience so it can act in line with its own needs and requirements, especially as conditions tend to change rapidly (in all directions). Fortunately, there are several forerunners leading the way, of which I highlight some in the article.

End of message is that digital infrastructure needs to be treated with the same seriousness as physical infrastructure such as ports, roads and power grids. Governments and private companies should be encouraged to demand security, openness and interoperability when seeking bids for provision of their cloud services – not merely low prices.