Looking into 2021 and beyond, data sovereignty is going to continue to become central to cloud computing. Data sovereignty is the concept/ idea that data is subject to laws and regulation within the nation (or region, e.g. the EU) that it is collected, stored and processed in. We believe data sovereignty will be particularly relevant within the European context in 2021 and beyond. The recently launched second phase of the Gaia-X project provides us a preview of the future of the European data sovereignty project.
Gaia-X project: A brief overview
Gaia-X, is a project conceptualised by Germany in partnership with France, to create the next generation of data infrastructure for Europe, its states, companies and citizens. This next gen infrastructure needs to meet the prescribed standards of data sovereignty whilst fostering innovation. Gaia-X aims to develop standardised requirements for a European data infrastructure and ensure it meets European ideals of: openness, transparency and interoperability (the ability to connect to other European countries).
In the longer term the project aims to capitalise on the European investments in digital technologies to create an ecosystem of European technology giants who will create employment in Europe and have the size and scale to be competitive globally. Gaia-X is named after Gaia, who according to Greek mythology is the ancestral mother of all life. Representatives from seven European countries are currently involved in the current stage II of the project, with membership open to other EU partners to join the project and contribute towards its initial development. A launch for GaiaX (Phase III) is targeted for early 2021.
