DIGITALEUROPE welcomes ambition for an open, collaborative European cloud; applies to join GAIA-X

DIGITALEUROPE welcomes the EU’s ambition to establish a cloud federation, a crucial step to accelerate the digital transition. That’s why we have applied to join GAIA-X to help shape pan-European cloud initiatives that are open, collaborative and truly competitive.

Today, Member States signed a declaration to develop EU-wide cloud investments and build a European cloud federation. DIGITALEUROPE welcomes the EU’s ambition to make its cloud services more attractive to domestic and international players.

DIGITALEUROPE Director General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl said:

“Today’s declaration on the EU cloud federation is a vital step towards the future of Europe’s data economy and the implementation of the common European data spaces. The latter are critical to help accessing data, allowing SMEs in particular to innovate, scale up and boost European competitiveness.

The EU’s cloud initiatives will strengthen our economy if they are cost- and market-competitive. An essential prerequisite for this is non-discriminatory, collaborative and transparent rules based on existing EU legislation, drawing expertise from both European and international companies.

To bring our contribution to this discussion, I’m happy to announce that DIGITALEUROPE has applied to GAIA-X. We look forward to providing our expertise towards a common data strategy that will allow citizens and businesses to benefit from the digital age and will accelerate Europe’s digital transition.”

Since the release of the European data strategy in February, DIGITALEUROPE has been supporting the Commission’s objective of making more data available to businesses and developing common data spaces. By joining the GAIA-X Foundation, DIGITALEUROPE aims to better participate in the European cloud supply discussions and help outline a project that could become the baseline of the EU cloud federation.