Ambition for a European Digital Independence

The "Euro Stack" (or "EuroStack"), as outlined during discussions from the "Toward European Digital Independence" conference, would be characterized by the following features:

Technological Autonomy and Sovereignty

• Control over critical infrastructure: Ensuring that key digital infrastructures (e.g., cloud computing, digital identities, payment systems) are European-controlled, reducing dependence on U.S. and Chinese tech giants.
• Data sovereignty: Prioritizing control over European data with infrastructure designed to keep data within European jurisdiction, protecting it from extraterritorial laws.

Open Source and Interoperability

• Open Source foundation: Leveraging Open Source software (OSS) as a core principle to ensure transparency, avoid vendor lock-in, and align with democratic and ethical values.
• Interoperability by design: Ensuring that the Euro Stack components are modular, interoperable, and based on open standards, enabling flexibility and innovation across sectors.

Alignment with European Values

• Privacy and security: Designing infrastructure that embeds privacy by design and resists surveillance models prevalent in other regions.
• Democracy and inclusivity: Building governance models that include civil society, SMEs, and Open Source communities to ensure transparency and prevent dominance by large corporations or governments.
• Sustainability: Developing environmentally efficient computing technologies, such as photonic computing, to reduce the environmental impact of digital infrastructure.

Collaboration and Governance

• Public-private partnerships: Encouraging cooperation between European governments, SMEs, academic institutions, and the private sector.
• Coordinated strategy: Avoiding duplication and fostering harmonization across member states, with a focus on practical use cases and execution.
• Independent governance: Considering new entities modeled after the European Central Bank to manage digital infrastructure free from corporate or state interference.

Support for SMEs and Local Ecosystems

• Prioritization of SMEs: Structuring public procurement and investment strategies to favor European SMEs and Open Source projects, fostering innovation and reducing reliance on hyperscalers.
• Inclusive growth: Ensuring that digital transformation benefits all regions and demographic groups, addressing potential inequalities in access and participation.

Digital Commons and Open Governance

• Adoption of digital commons models: Creating trust-based infrastructure that emphasizes shared ownership and open governance.
• Global lessons: Drawing on experiences like India Stack and Brazil’s Pix to implement scalable, interoperable, and publicly governed systems.

Sustainable Financing

• Long-term OSS support: Providing ongoing public funding for the maintenance and scalability of Open Source projects critical to European sovereignty.
• Risk capital and venture support: Closing the funding gap for European startups to help them scale globally, with targeted investments from pension funds and public institutions.

Focus on Education and Skills

• Open Source literacy: Embedding OSS principles into European ICT curricula to prepare a workforce proficient in open technologies.
• Digital skills development: Addressing digital literacy across demographics to ensure equitable participation in the digital economy.

Cloud-Edge Continuum

• Neutral infrastructure: Avoiding replication of hyperscaler dominance by creating a vendor-neutral cloud-edge ecosystem, enabling workload portability and user control.

Sustainability and Efficiency

• Green computing: Addressing energy demands of large-scale computing systems through innovative technologies and sustainable practices.
• Efficient resource use: Focusing on enhancing existing Open Source projects and avoiding redundant competition or duplication of efforts.

Strategic Use of Public Procurement

• "Open Source First" policy: Mandating Open Source solutions for publicly funded projects to align with the principles of "Public Money, Public Code."
• Government as a lead customer: Using public procurement to support the growth of European Open Source providers and SMEs.

Summary

The "Euro Stack" envisions a comprehensive digital infrastructure that prioritizes European sovereignty, Open Source principles, sustainability, and inclusivity. It aims to foster innovation, protect privacy, and align with democratic values while reducing dependence on external tech powers. The Euro Stack is not just a technological initiative but a broader societal project aimed at securing Europe's digital future in a competitive, ethical, and sustainable manner.