Europe has shifted from focusing on the single market and free trade to acting based on security and geopolitical resilience.
Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and the escalating tech rivalry between the United States and China have made it clear that digital infrastructure, microchips, and data are no longer merely matters of industrial policy.
Dependencies on foreign cloud solutions, hardware, and critical raw materials has become a strategic vulnerability – one that can be exploited through trade policy, sanctions, or outright coercion.
At the same time, American and Chinese digital platforms are challenging Europe’s societal model in areas such as privacy protection, trustworthy information, and a democratic public sphere.
The question is therefore no longer whether the EU should pursue industrial policy, but what kind of industrial policy we should have, if we want to reconcile our commitment to openness with strategic autonomy.
This is the perspective offered by Maaike Okano-Heijmans, Senior Research Fellow at the international think tank the Clingendael Institute, at IT-Branchen’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, 25 March.
Europe is trapped in the tech stack
The global technological value chain—or “tech stack”—can, in simplified terms, be described as consisting of the following building blocks: Raw materials, microchips, hard infrastructure, soft infrastructure and applications.
Although Europe performs well in microchip production, we are lagging behind on several key fronts.
China holds a dominant position in the critical raw materials needed for microchips and hardware. The United States and China dominate the hardware and cloud markets, and we are also heavily dependent on American cloud platforms and software standards.
More than 80% of Europe’s digital infrastructure and technologies are imported, and American cloud giants account for nearly 70% of the IaaS market in Europe.
Today, European companies and public authorities build their digital business on top of technologies that are designed, controlled, and scaled outside the EU.
This is not merely a competitiveness issue. It is a strategic issue.
Because when digital platforms, cloud services, and AI models are controlled by a few global players, power follows. Power over data. Power over standards. And power over the public conversation.
Hear the solution—and join the discussion
Over a number of years, Maaike Okano-Heijmans has researched technological and digital geopolitical issues and produced several analyses and articles on social cohesion, economic security, and open strategic autonomy within the digital domain.
We are therefore proud to welcome her to IT-Branchen’s Annual Meeting, where you can hear her take on what it will take to make the EU a technological superpower.
Sign up for the Annual Meeting here and help strengthen Europe’s technological capacity to act.