ECA at the Digital-Gipfel in Berlin
On 2 and 3 November, Andrea Vaugan, Co-Founder and Secretary General of the European Champions Alliance, represented ECA at the German Federal Government’s Digital-Gipfel (Digital Summit) in Berlin. Leaders from politics, business and research came together to discuss German and European digital policy, with digital sovereignty at the top of the agenda.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz set the tone, describing sovereignty as freedom and calling for cooperation with like-minded partners. He chose to speak in German to a room full of European and international guests, sending a message to the nation that digital sovereignty is a question for society as a whole.
Three ideas stood out for Andrea. The first was building capabilities. AI is becoming a foundational technology, and Europe is in a race. That calls for a dual strategy: frontier models that industry can use now, and far more research into tomorrow’s models. Capabilities need to be built at every level, from large corporates and SMEs to regions and local government. They also need data centres to run on, from AI gigafactories to smaller sites upgraded for future AI capacity. The question is how to build these capabilities at European level and share what we learn, instead of reinventing the wheel a thousand times.
The second was self-determination: who sets the rules, and who decides what happens in the world? Shared definitions of digital sovereignty are a good starting point for aligning national strategies at European level. Europe also needs more change agents who carry these initiatives into their own companies.
The third was cooperation. Europe needs to deepen technological exchange with allies and like-minded partners, share knowledge and diversify supply chains together. That starts with Germany and France, but Canada and others are becoming strategic partners too.
Andrea also joined three side events:
- “Digital sovereignty in practice”, by the Franco-German Forum for the Future. Participants discussed a “catalogue of catalogues” to connect the many sovereign solution initiatives that already exist.
- A session connecting start-ups and the Mittelstand on cybersecurity, a great opportunity to meet new partners for our cybersecurity mapping initiative.
- “Digitale Souveränität als Gefechtswert” at the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub, which looked at sovereignty as freedom of action, trust and security.
At the summit, Andrea discussed three ECA projects with partners:
- The 2027 edition of the ECA European Cybersecurity Mapping.
- Our industrial AI initiative, in which more than 20 CxOs are defining demand-based requirements for a sovereign European AI infrastructure.
- Financing the data centre infrastructure that European AI depends on.
A big thank you to everyone Andrea met in Berlin for their shared commitment to moving Europe forward.
Andrea and Sabrina at the German embassy
European Champions Alliance Strengthens Its Ties with Germany
A promising meeting at the German Embassy in Paris to foster European cooperation in technology, innovation and cybersecurity.
Earlier this week, Sabrina and Andrea had the pleasure of presenting the European Champions Alliance (ECA), its mission and its various projects to Dr. Florian Rudolph, Head of Economic Affairs at the German Embassy in Paris.
The meeting provided a valuable opportunity to introduce the Alliance’s ambitions and exchange views on the strategic challenges involved in building and supporting European champions. The ECA’s initiatives generated strong interest, particularly regarding cross-border cooperation, technological innovation and cybersecurity.
The discussions were highly encouraging and opened up promising perspectives for future collaboration. They also highlighted the importance of a shared commitment to strengthening Europe’s sovereignty, competitiveness and capacity for innovation.
Building European champions requires more than ambitious ideas and groundbreaking technologies. It calls for strong partnerships, a shared vision and a collective willingness to work together across national borders.
This meeting represents a positive step forward in the European Champions Alliance’s engagement with European institutional stakeholders and underlines the importance of Franco-German dialogue in building a stronger, more connected and competitive European ecosystem.
Together, let’s turn European potential into European impact!
