Digital sovereignty is set to become a central part of national security strategy, with Gartner predicting that the principle will be adopted by every country around the world by 2030.
The topic of digital sovereignty - a country’s ability to manage its digital infrastructure without relying on tools and service from foreign providers - has been gaining traction in recent years.
These issues have been thrown into sharp relief by high-profile incidents such as Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, as well as a growing push by EU leaders to reduce reliance on US tech providers.
“As dependency risks rise, sovereignty is shifting from a question of location to an economic and operational survivability imperative,” Buest told attendees.
“Business and IT executives can no longer assume foreign partners will support them indefinitely, or that local providers will never be acquired. Dependencies that once delivered efficiency must now be treated as potential business continuity risks.”
Digital sovereignty in the spotlight
In response to these concerns, a growing number of EU member states – including France, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland – are migrating public sector IT systems from Windows to Linux.
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Separate community projects are also working on developing a shared Linux-based OS that can be used for government IT across the region.
While Gartner predicts that more than 90% of EU organizations will have some form of digital sovereignty strategy within three years, analysts also warned that a totally sovereign tech stack is not realistically feasible.
“The global technology supply chain is too interconnected, and many critical dependencies cannot be replaced at a commercially viable scale,” said Bettina Tratz-Ryan, VP analyst at Gartner.
This tallies with a Capgemini survey from September, which found that although almost half of global organizations see sovereignty as a board-level priority, 59% say that fully achieving this goal is unrealistic.
In addition to extreme dependence on foreign suppliers, respondents also cited long timelines for migration, and in many cases a lack of alternative options.
In July, Forrester principal analyst Dario Maisto told that achieving full sovereignty may not be feasible for Europe at all, thanks to factors including macroeconomic capabilities and supply chain dependencies.
“The immediate priority for business and IT leaders should be strategic optionality,” said Tratz-Ryan: “identifying where dependencies create unacceptable risk, where resilience is sufficient and where managed interdependence remains the most viable option.”