Foreign firms’ dominance ‘threatens EU digital sovereignty’

Covid-19 contact-tracing and 5G rows show costs of depending on non-European firms, EIT says

Digital regulations must curtail the current dependency on a small number of non-EU technology companies, a phenomenon that stifles indigenous innovation, an EU innovation body has said.

In a report published on 9 June, the European Institute for Innovation and Technology’s Digital branch said Europe’s current struggle with Covid-19 contact-tracing apps “has once more illustrated the importance of European digital sovereignty”. These apps have forced some EU countries to shape their public health responses to US tech company products, rather than the other way round.