The Changing Landscape of European Cloud Computing: Gaia-X, the French National Strategy, and EU Plans
Non-European cloud service providers host the vast majority of European data, which is viewed as an economic as well as a political problem. Gaia-X, European governments and the European Union aim to bolster the European cloud market while responding to data privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
It is estimated that, with the ongoing digital transformation, the global volume of data will be multiplied by five by 2025. Cloud technologies are playing a central role in facilitating this growth.
Today, non-European service providers host 80% of European data. This situation has been called into question over the past few years. For nearly a decade, but especially from 2018 onward, digital sovereignty – in particular, sovereignty over data – has been seen as a necessary response to the privacy and cybersecurity concerns of Europeans, whether individuals, governments, or industry. Europe has sought to build its own governance framework for data and to develop European cloud solutions.
European initiatives in the cloud sector - even if they are not fully coordinated - illustrate in a rather practical fashion what the sometimes-hazy terms of data sovereignty can entail. When it comes to cloud computing, at a minimum it means storing and processing data in Europe, according to European law, and fostering a diverse digital ecosystem that gives customers the choice among various suppliers and data protection regimes.
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The Changing Landscape of European Cloud Computing: Gaia-X, the French National Strategy, and EU Plans
Author(s)
Alice PANNIER
Former Associate Research Fellow, Former Head of Ifri's Center for Geopolitics of Technology, Ifri
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Center for Geopolitics of Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, cybersecurity, robotics, semiconductors, space... Technology, especially in the digital domain, is now deeply affecting all human activities and, by extension, international relations. The resulting political, strategic, economic and social issues manifest themselves at multiple political scales involving states, international organizations and private companies. The dynamics of international competition and cooperation are transformed.
It is to respond to these challenges that Ifri is launching the Geopolitics of Technology program in the fall of 2020, which builds on the work it already carried out on these subjects for several years.
The program takes a resolutely European approach to international issues related to so-called critical technologies. Its work is organized around four cross-cutting themes:
- Power: redistributions of power caused by new technologies, in particular digital; military and dual innovations; transformations of international competition;
- Sovereignty: definition of critical infrastructures and technologies; industrial and innovation policies in strategic sectors; opportunities and risks associated with international value chains;
- Governance: ethical and legal issues; interactions between companies, states, international organizations and users; public-private partnerships and GovTech;
- Society: political and social impacts of technological innovations; risks and opportunities for the future of work, health, the fight against climate change; connectivity and economic development.
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