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This week, Berlin will be the meeting place for Europe's digital elite. On a German-French initiative, around 900 representatives from start-ups, scientific institutions and industry want to spend two days (18/19) discussing Europe's digital sovereignty and presenting initial projects. These include the European Digital Identity Wallet, a personal digital wallet for smartphones, and open-source workplace solutions such as the German “OpenDesk” and the French “LaSuite” — a joint project for public administration that both countries have been working on since 2024. The heads of government of France and Germany, President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will open the conference. Germany's Minister of Digitalization Karsten Wildberger announced the first European tech summit at the Franco-German Ministerial Council in Toulon in August.

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“Germany and France want to become the driving force behind world-class digitization,” emphasized the French ambassador in Berlin, François Delattre, at a Franco-German tech forum in Berlin a few days ago. What had previously happened in the coal and steel industry must happen in this sector of the economy: A flagship initiative is needed to achieve critical mass in the digital revolution. In addition to war and threats to democracy, there is a third risk for Europe, namely falling behind the USA and China economically. Berlin and Paris must take on more responsibility and react more quickly in order to become more independent of the technologies of the two superpowers.

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In addition to artificial intelligence and cloud computing, one of the focal points of the conference will be quantum technology, which is central to Europe's digital sovereignty and economic competitiveness. Among others, Qandela, a successful company founded in France in 2017, and Quantum Technology an Application Consortium (Qutac), an association of 14 major German corporations such as Airbus, Siemens and SAP, will present themselves. Both companies are focused on industrially applicable innovations. The results of the latest French-German dialogue on quantum technology will also be discussed.

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According to a new survey by the digital association Bitcom, Germany's dependence on technologies and services from the US and China has increased even further this year. Bitcom surveyed around 600 companies with 20 employees or more. According to this, 51 percent of companies felt heavily dependent on the USA, compared to just 41 percent in January 2025. 51 percent also see themselves heavily dependent on China, compared to just 44 percent in January. According to a statement from Bitcom, German companies could only survive twelve months if they were no longer able to obtain the technologies and services from the USA. In the case of Chinese imports, it would be only eleven months.

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Regardless of whether semiconductors, AI models, hardware, cloud storage services, software applications — China and the USA are the most important countries of origin for the whole of Europe. Because large European data flows across the USA, the EU Commission has concluded data protection regulations with the US administration. Chips also come from Taiwan or industrial robots from South Korea. According to Bitkom, 96 percent of the companies surveyed in Germany say that they cannot do without foreign digital imports. gd  

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