European Cloud Project Kicks off Without US, Chinese Firms

The European Commission launched on Tuesday (Dec. 14) the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud. This project is part of the European Data Strategy, created in 2020, which aims to create a single EU data market and to have more control of the data produced in the European Union.

The alliance is currently formed by 39 companies, including Atos, Telefónica, and Nokia Siemens, with no U.S. or Chinese firms being part of the group yet. Non-European firms can be part of the alliance but they are subject to additional scrutiny.

Thierry Breton, commissioner for internal market, said: “Europe has all it takes to lead the ‘big data’ economy. With the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud, companies will define an ambitious investment roadmap to develop and deploy next generation computing technologies.”

The main task of the Alliance is to bring together a wide range of industrial players and to provide a strategic platform to foster the presence of the EU industry on cloud and edge technologies.

According to the European Commission, cloud computing and edge technologies are strategic innovations that enable emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and 5G.

Additionally, the Alliance will serve as a platform for exchange on issues of cloud governance, including the public procurement of cloud services.

“This represents a major opportunity to enhance collaboration between users and technology providers, to foster European cloud and edge infrastructure, and to generate new market developments through data sharing, data spaces [and] digital data platforms,” said Pierre Barnabé, interim co-CEO at Atos.

The European Commission made another announcement on Wednesday (Dec. 15) as part of the EU data strategy, where it presented a plan to modernize financial supervisory reporting. The new system will deliver accurate, consistent and timely data to supervisory authorities at the national and EU level.

As the EU continues to tighten data regulations, the demand for data experts that help keep firms compliant continues to grow.

Read more: EU’s ‘Single Market for Data’ Could Take Cues from British Open Banking Rules

That’s an enormously complex undertaking, Juan Delgado, director of the Chicago-based Global Economics Group warned. One good place to look for ideas and precedent, he said, is the U.K.’s open banking regulations