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Technological sovereignty
Political concept From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Technological sovereignty is a political outlook where information and communications infrastructure and technology critical for competitiveness and welfare is aligned to the laws, needs and interests of the jurisdiction in which users are located.[1][2] Data sovereignty or information sovereignty sometimes overlaps with technological sovereignty, since their distinctions are not clear, and also refer to subjective information about the laws of the country in which the data subject is a citizen, or the information is stored or flows through, whatever its form, including when it has been converted and stored in binary digital form.[1][3] Technological sovereignty is considered distinct from autarky and deglobalization, as it only seeks to avoid full dependencies on critical technologies.[2][4]
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History
Summarize
Perspective
In the Post–Cold War era, the concept of technological sovereignty has gained popularity due to a number of world events highlighting the vulnerability of technological dependence.
In 1964, Pierre Cognard of France's General Delegation for Scientific and Technical Research wrote "Certainly it would be absurd to systematically oppose oneself to the introduction into a country of a foreign firm which brings in a superior technology and thus contributes to economic progress.… Nevertheless, we do not see how a Nation could maintain its political independence if such penetration becomes generalized."[5][6]
Surveillance concerns
Following revelations by Edward Snowden about the activities of the United States' National Security Agency and their PRISM surveillance programme, rising concerns about misuse of data led to various proposals to enable citizens and consumers outside of the US to enjoy protection through technological sovereignty.[7]
Covid-19 pandemic
Supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call for nations to decrease their dependence on oversea supply chains as factory closures, transportation disruptions and export controls all contributed to unavailability of important imports.[8] Meanwhile, countries that did have adequate supplies limited exports of those supplies.[9]
Sanctions
US sanctions against China as well as the Made in China 2025 policy have accelerated the desire for technological sovereignty for China and the United States, but also for other economic blocks.[10]
In 2020, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released the National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies, to advance US "technological competitiveness and national security."[11]
Technological sovereignty is also pursued by Russia, especially after finding itself sanctioned by many countries following the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine, Russia started a strategy of import substitution.[12][13]
Cloud services and AI
Following the 2025 United States tariffs against the European Union, fear of overreliance on US cloud providers such as Microsoft 365 en Google Workspace increased.[14] According to Nextcloud, one of the one of the foremost alternatives to replace them, during the first 5 months of 2025, customer interest in the software had tripled.[15] Some governmental organisations including the European Data Protection Supervisor and the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have since switched from Microsoft's Sharepoint to Nextcloud.[16] In 2020, French president Emmanuel Macron stated "If we don’t build our own champions in all areas — digital, artificial intelligence — our choices will be dictated by others."[17] In 2023, the EU passed the Chips Act to encourage semiconductor production,[18] followed in 2024 by the Artificial Intelligence Act regulating AI technology.[19] In 2024, a coalition of academics and policy-makers called for limiting EU's dependence on foreign technology by investing in European cloud digital infrastructure, under an initiative labelled EuroStack.[18]
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Limitations
In outsourcing and lack of suitable human capital may hinder efforts to achieve technological sovereignty.[20] In the past, striving for technological sovereignty has led to convergence to a small number of technologies, which can lead to technologies outside of the scope of technological sovereignty to be neglected. Policies aimed at technological sovereignty may also attract lobbying for broad state subsidies and protectionist policies.[9]
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See also
References
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