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A European Perspective: Why Digital Sovereignty Concerns Us All
Prof. Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker is a cyber security expert and works as Scientific Director of the
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There are countless definitions of what constitutes digital sovereignty: Some define it politically, and others define it technically. Then, there are legal and sociocultural attempts to define it. And that makes sense, because digitalization affects all areas of life, society and the economy.
That is why this article will not attempt to define the entire possible spectrum of digital sovereignty, because that would be boring. Instead, my aim is to identify specific reasons for the lack of digital sovereignty to date and consider how we can work together to find a way out of this dilemma.
Here are just two examples of a lack of digital sovereignty: When President Donald Trump announced that he will make changes to the transatlantic data protection agreement between the EU and the United States—and we in the European Union had to consider what consequences this could have for our economy—I do not believe that is digital sovereignty. Or, when Vice President JD Vance stated in February 2025 that the European Union is digitally overregulated—and the EU Commission then considered reducing European data protection by reforming the GDPR—I do not believe that is digital sovereignty, either.
To me, sovereignty therefore means being able to decide freely whether and how to digitize—so that the greatest possible added value can be achieved for everyone, regardless of foreign interference. And digital sovereignty is not just an abstract end in itself: It helps companies in the EU use the best possible IT products at an efficient business price.
On the other hand, U.S. companies also benefit from EU digital sovereignty. In a free, sovereign market, it is also easier for startups and scale-ups abroad to build a business case in the EU. Unfortunately, we in the EU are still too far away from this ideal, at least at present.
But why is this the case? It's a long story, because a lack of digital sovereignty didn't happen overnight or in just a few years. No, to answer this question, you have to go back almost 30 years in the history of European technology development.
The best example of this for Germany is the mobile phone market. Immediately after the start of the cell phone boom in the 1990s, the country began to rely on outsourcing IT development. This ultimately resulted in the closure of Siemens Mobile, a formerly big-name mobile developer in the country.
As a result, while companies were initially able to rely on suppliers from abroad, decades later, they became dependent on these same suppliers. And the consequences of this can be felt by everyone today: the European smartphone market has long since ceased to be dominated by European manufacturers, as was the case with cell phones just a few decades ago.
This worked well for many years because the credo of the European digital economy and others was always that globalization is the way forward. In the last decade in particular, a lot has been digitized and networked with the expansion of mobile 5G connections, and more and more computing capacities have been outsourced to the global cloud without hesitation.
However, the global turnaround that began with Covid-19 in 2020 and that has since continued with political unrest and tension have made this difficult. The insight is clear: While we trusted in digital globalization all those years ago, it is now a question of digital trust. Digitalization without trust is no longer sustainable in these times. Regionalization instead of globalization has therefore become the credo of our decade—and this also includes regaining the digital sovereignty we gave up.
But that is, of course, easier said than done. We've had decades to lose our digital sovereignty, but we have been confronted with the global turnaround at such a rapid pace that it will be extremely difficult for us to establish digital sovereignty from now on.
But this is where the circle must close. Digital sovereignty affects us all, and therefore, everyone can make a contribution. It's not just about us as the European Union investing more in the development of our own digital economy by supporting startups and scale-ups with targeted funding. It's even more important to get young people interested in training in STEM subjects. And ultimately, it's about how we as states, as individual companies and as individual consumers purchase IT.
In this very concrete business context, in order to achieve digital sovereignty and technological resilience, it is first necessary to carry out a risk analysis. What technology do I use? In which areas do I most use it? To what extent are my processes dependent on it, and from which manufacturers does it come from?
On the other hand, U.S. manufacturers, for example, should also ask themselves these questions, as the increasing regulatory requirements for cybersecurity as part of digital sovereignty also offer new business opportunities. Where EU-compliant products are offered, European companies can also integrate them more easily into their IT infrastructure. Because of this, ideally, digital sovereignty is a win-win situation for everyone.
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