Digital Sovereignty: what it means and why governments consider data and digital technologies strategic infrastructure

In recent times in the context of Digital Transformation, the European Commission has been paying attention to the strategic importance of digital technologies and data. The reason? Geopolitics of digital technologies, or awareness of having to participate in the ongoing competition for technological leadership between the U.S. and China. It's all part of the Digital Strategy, which the Commission has been working on for some time. Europe's Digital Decade initiative points to 2030 as the year when a human-centered, sustainable vision of a digital society that empowers citizens and businesses should materialize.

Aside from personal data privacy issues, we need to start looking at data as pivotal in the decision-making process of the software algorithms that invade our lives as citizens. Another element that raises further data control issues is the proliferation of cloud computing. By creating a social media account or signing up for a newsletter, we confer our data, which will be stored on the platform. In most cases, storage refers to a cloud infrastructure. Often the machines are not installed in the same country where the user resides but in a geographically distant data center. 

Therefore, it becomes crucial to consider WHERE data is stored, WHO can access it, and HOW through appropriate regulation. This means protecting the country's future assets, which no longer consist only of power lines, railroads, water pipes, etc., but also data with the attached infrastructure that is becoming increasingly strategic to a country.

The ability to control and determine our digital future depends on how we implement digital sovereignty: data + technology. Read more in the full article on DeltalogiX.

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