Sovereignty as a Spectrum

In a connected world, digital sovereignty is a spectrum, not an end state. It can – and should – be a guiding principle rather than a checklist. At a very basic level, digital sovereignty means being able to decide about how your digital infrastructure and services are designed, implemented, used. It means having some level of control — enough so that no external entity can just flip the on/off switch or use your own infrastructure to spy on you or otherwise weaken you. How we can move towards that goal is up for debate, there are several basic approaches, some of which are complementary: One is to build a more resilient technological foundation by moving towards a stronger open source base for these technologies, which is what Germany’s Sovereign Tech Agency works towards. (Disclosure: I’ve worked with the Sovereign Tech Agency for many years.) Another is to cultivate local (national/European) champions by fostering a strong start-up and corporate ecosystem building independent…