Shaping Europe’s digital sovereignty
DIGITALEUROPE’s Summer Summit returns on 1 July at crunch time for Europe’s digital future. As geopolitical tensions rise and technological competition accelerates, digital sovereignty is no longer abstract policy language, it’s a strategic imperative.
The Summit will convene senior EU policymakers, industry leaders and international partners to discuss how Europe can convert ambition into leadership. Discussions will cut straight to the core: how to design rules on AI, data and critical technologies that enable innovation while strengthening resilience and competitiveness.
With key regulatory debates reaching a tipping point, the focus will be on execution: building trusted infrastructure, securing investment and aligning sustainability with technological growth.
The event agenda and further speakers will be announced shortly!
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl
Director General,
DIGITALEUROPE
Britta Behrendt
Director General for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, Germany
Marina Kaljurand
Member,
European Parliament
Thibaut Kleiner
Director, Future Networks, DG CNECT, European Commission
Andrew Puzder
Ambassador of the US to the EU
Hans Roth
Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, Red Hat
Aura Salla
Member,
European Parliament
Dariusz Standerski
Minister of Digital Affairs, Poland
Ioannis Vrailas Ambassador of Greece to the EU
Note: All session timings below are in Central European Summer Time (CEST)
12:00 – 13:00
Networking lunch
13:00 – 13:15
Welcome remarks
Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General, DIGITALEUROPE
13:15 – 13:40
Keynote conversation – Europe’s digital future: Presidency priorities
As Europe moves from defining its digital vision to implementing it, this keynote explores what it takes to shape digital sovereignty in a contested global environment. From artificial intelligence and trusted data to resilient infrastructure and strategic partnerships, the focus shifts to delivery: how to translate political ambition into tangible capabilities and global influence.
How can Europe remain open whilst reducing strategic dependencies? Where should policymakers prioritise to unlock scale and speed? And how can the next cycle of European leadership ensure that competitiveness, security and innovation reinforce each other?
This session sets the tone for the Summit: a Europe ready not only to define rules, but to shape outcomes and deliver on its digital sovereignty ambitions.
Henna Virkkunen, EVP European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
13:40 – 14:20
Europe’s data dilemma: protect privacy, share data or stay competitive?
The Digital Omnibus is a once-in-a-decade chance to simplify Europe’s data rulebook and cut compliance burdens. For European industry, however, simplification cannot be limited to a simple administrative clean-up; that would miss out on concrete benefits to legal certainty, investment incentives, and the protection of proprietary knowledge.
This panel will explore whether the proposed changes can provide companies with workable safeguards when they are legally obliged to share data, especially where that data may reveal trade secrets, intellectual property, product design choices, cybersecurity-sensitive information, or commercially strategic insights. With the GDPR also being revised as part of the Digital Omnibus, there is a clear opportunity to simplify and clarify the rules while preserving Europe’s strong protections for personal data. The extensive cross-over between different data and personal data regulations also entails a healthy debate.
The discussion will therefore focus on how Europe can unlock data-driven innovation while protecting personal data and giving industry the guarantees it needs to invest, compete, and scale in Europe.
Aura Salla, Member, European Parliament
14:20-14:40
Keynote
14:40-15:00
Networking coffee break
15:00-15:45
Advancing digital sovereignty through public procurement
This session explores how public procurement can become a strategic tool to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty, moving beyond compliance to actively shaping markets, creating demand and supporting trusted European solutions. What would it take for procurement to consistently reinforce sovereignty objectives across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure?
The discussion will examine the frameworks needed to enable this shift. Which criteria, standards and governance models can guide procurement decisions in a fragmented market? The role of open source? And how can Europe align these rules with broader goals, building domestic capacity while remaining open, competitive and globally connected?
The challenge is clear: turning procurement into a driver of sovereignty, not just a process, and ensuring the rulebook is fit for that purpose.
15:45-16:00
Industry keynote
16:00-16:20
Fireside conversation – Bridging the Atlantic: Transatlantic tech cooperation
The transatlantic digital relationship remains one of the most powerful in the world, but it is under pressure. Industrial policy, security concerns and diverging regulatory approaches are reshaping how Europe and the United States engage.
This session explores how both sides can remain trusted partners whilst addressing strategic dependencies and maintaining a level playing field.
From cybersecurity and infrastructure to AI and supply chains, the challenge is to move from dialogue to delivery in a more competitive environment.
16:20-17:05
Scaling Sustainably: Data centres and chips at the EU crosssroads: energy, policy and AI ambition
As the EU pushes to triple data centre capacity to meet growing cloud and AI demand, the sector sits at the intersection of Europe’s digital sovereignty and climate commitments. This panel brings operators, policymakers, energy planners and AI stakeholders together to critically examine how rapid capacity expansion can align with decarbonisation, energy security and responsible AI, and how innovation across the full technology stack, from chips to systems to software, can support Europe’s competitiveness while reinforcing a diverse, resilient and open technology ecosystem.
The conversation will focus on practical barriers and opportunities for growth within the emerging EU policy framework – including the Cloud and AI Development Act (CAIDA), the proposed EU data centre rating scheme, and potential minimum performance standards (MPS) for facilities – while addressing public concerns about the rising energy footprint of next‑generation AI models.
17:05-17:15
Closing remarks
Henna Virkkunen
Executive Vice-President
European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
Justin Hotard
President and CEO, Nokia
Aura Salla
Member, European Parliament
To view more information about the available sponsorship packages, please view the brochure.
The in person element of the event will take place at the Steigenberger Wiltcher’s. In person places are strictly limited and by application only for non-DIGITALEUROPE Members, so please only arrange travel to the event once you have confirmation from the event team following your application.
The event will be live streamed, and details of how to join the online platform will be sent in the week prior to the event to those registered for virtual participation.
If you are interested in knowing how you can get involved in the #DESummerSummit, or for any information, please contact
Kivanç Akil, Associate Director for Events & Executive Coordination
+32 473 36 17 54 / events@digitaleurope.org
Thibaut Kleiner, Director, Future Networks, DG CNECT, European Commission 
