Luxembourg joins France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy in a consortium for digital sovereignty
EDIC Digital Commons, or the foundations of a sovereign and collaborative digital world. An ambitious project, which Luxembourg has joined. Official launch in The Hague on December 11.
With more than 80% of the digital infrastructure used in Europe still dependent on foreign suppliers, according to government figures, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands have just taken a decisive step for their future.
Other countries have joined the four founding states, namely Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Poland. If they plan to participate in the initiative, it will only be as observers. The idea? To pool resources and expertise around digital “commons” and provide a legal framework for the development of large-scale cross-border projects.
Reducing European dependence
The initiative aims to act as a bridge between public and private actors, with the goal of designing, deploying, and managing open, interoperable, and sustainable digital infrastructures together.
While the objectives are still very theoretical at this stage, the project aims to reduce European dependence on foreign technologies in the long term, as well as to create a framework conducive to collective innovation.
The consortium is expected to target several key areas, including AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, geomatics, collaborative suites, and social networks.
Stimulating faster adoption of European solutions
It is expected to offer a one-stop shop for project financing and coordination, and will also provide technical and legal resources to support their production, maintenance, and scaling.
With Europe often accused of being too slow in its decision-making, this collective approach should help stimulate the adoption of European solutions more quickly by administrations, businesses, and citizens alike.
