EU Digital Sovereignty Happy Hour

PANEL DISCUSSION FOLLOWED BY HAPPY HOUR & NETWORKING - THURSDAY, MAY 21 - 18:00 - 21:00 PM

The term ‘Digital Sovereignty’ is used a lot these days. What does it concretely mean for a consultants, small business owner and just everyday citizens? Is it about where your data sits, who controls your tools, or something else? Most of us use AWS, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Squarespace, Notion and of course, LLMs. What would “exclusion from EU markets” mean in practice? Is it realistic for to switch to European alternatives, or is that largely theoretical right now?

We’ll discuss these questions and more in a short panel discussion and continue the conversation over drinks and finger food.

THE PANELISTS

Why this topic? Why now?

Earlier this year, when the US was threatening to take Greenland by force, the EU began openly speaking about using the ‘Trade Bazooka’, aka the ACI. This could have potentially blocked some of America’s access to EU markets or imposed export controls.

For major platforms like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, the most immediate hit would be exclusion from public sector contracts. European governments, hospitals, schools, and state bodies are enormous cloud customers — losing access to those tenders would be a major blow, potentially forcing a rapid shift to European alternatives like Deutsche Telekom’s Open Telekom Cloud or France’s OVHcloud.

For smaller businesses, a digital services tax or licence restriction would have made it economically unviable for smaller platforms (ex. Squarespace) to serve European customers at current price points. Those of us running independent or small businesses using these or similar tools could have faced higher costs or disrupted service for both ourselves and our clients.

The trade war suddenly became a lot less abstract.

This casual, intimate event brings together experts in the field for a short moderated panel on how we as both business owners and citizens need to think about and possibly prepare for EU Digital Sovereignty moving forward.

The discussion will be short & sweet and include time for questions and answers. We’ll continue the discussion along with drinks and finger food after the talk. Seats are limited to 25 people. Location: Eleanor Mayrhofer office, Freibadßtr. 30, München (across from the Hexenhaus, near Kolumbusplatz).