Digital Sovereignty & AI: Earning Europe’s Competitive Edge

Two years into the current EU mandate, digital sovereignty remains one of the defining questions for Europe's tech and innovation policy. This event brings together EU policymakers, startups, and industry voices to explore what digital sovereignty means in practice, and what it takes for European startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to compete and innovate, including through access to AI.

The programme is based on the ongoing debates on the Innovation Act, the Cloud and AI Development Act, and the Public Procurement Act, and looks at how these files, alongside the Digital Markets Act, may shape startups' access to digital tools going forward.

Agenda

Opening Remarks

Start time: 16:00 – 16:15

Description: Opening remarks on strengthening Europe's digital competitiveness.

Speaker: Ann-Sofie Rönnlund, Member of Commissioner Zaharieva's Cabinet

Panel 1: Sovereignty by Investment, Not by Isolation

Start time: 16:15 – 17:00

Description: For a startup, how to achieve digital sovereignty is not an abstract question. The definition can decide whether an SME can bid for public contracts, choose the cloud and AI services that best meet customers’ needs, or scale beyond its home market. This panel asks how Europe can best build its own capabilities, through investment and openness or through preference and protection and what each path means for companies. The discussion will explore on how Europe can achieve greater digital sovereignty, bringing together different perspectives on regulatory approaches, including the quality/innovation criteria, and ‘Buy European’ provisions in the Public Procurement Act and Innovation Act, the Cloud and AI Development Act, and the potential implications for SMEs.

Speakers:

MEP Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens/EFA, Germany)

George Breyiannis - Project Manager, Digital and Data Sovereignty, European Commission

André Costa de Sousa - Founder, Nespra

Katarzyna Szkuta - Director of Strategy, The Lisbon Council

Raquel Jorge - Director for European Affairs & Director of Brussels Office, Adigital

Moderator: Maria Goikoetxea, Senior Policy Manager, ACT

Panel 2: The Cost of Delay — AI Access and European Startups

Start time: 17:00 – 17:45

Description: When new AI models and features launch, European startups are often among the last to get access. Every month of delay is a month in which competitors elsewhere build, test and ship first. The discussion will explore the relevance of AI to businesses and to European competitiveness and sovereignty, bringing together different views on how access to AI tools and models affects European startups and the role policy plays.

Speakers:

Masha Moisseyeva - Managing Director, B/ACE Global

Ann-Kathrin Zierau - EU Policy Manager, KI Bundesverband

Carla Benedetti - Founder and CEO, THeachAI

Isidro Laso Ballesteros - Senior Official, European Commission

Moderator: Peder Schaefer - Freelance Reporter

Closing Remarks

Start time: 17:45 – 18:00

Speaker: Mike Sax, Founder and Chairperson, ACT