Independent analysis on Europe's technological future

Mission

Beyond Beta exists because debates about tech sovereignty are currently often confined to the policy bubble and too seldom connect the political ambition of tech sovereignty with the practical, multi-national, and shareholder-focused perspective of CEOs and CIOs. This disconnect exists especially in the EU but also in the Middle East and in other parts of the world where sovereignty is hotly debated, e.g. in Asia.

Policy initiatives, like the Eurostack Initiative, aim to sketch a policy- and regulatory-driven path to the political goal of sovereignty. That is important and commendable. However, tech sovereignty becomes a reality foremost in businesses as decisions of CEOs and CIOs. They need a full tech stack of concrete, interdependent layers to work in a proficient, safe, and cost-efficient way at scale. Who are the suppliers of sovereign products on each layer? What if there aren't any?

At the same time, suppliers of and investors in tech sovereignty need to have a clear view of their total addressable market to commit. Who is willing to buy sovereign products, at what price and how sovereign is sovereign enough?

Tech sovereignty decisions span this entire stack and all value chains in each layer, e.g. raw materials and intermediate products, components such as chips, communications infrastructure, IaaS, PaaS, data, software technology, and the laws and standards that rule them.

For us, tech sovereignty means agency and freedom of choice, not autarchy.

Method — the Sovereignty Stack

Beyond Beta follows the updated technology layer model proposed by Prof. Dr. Henning Kagermann, Karl-Heinz Streibich, and Dr. Katrin Suder — Kagermann, H., Streibich, K.-H., & Suder, K. (2021). Digital Sovereignty: Status Quo and Perspectives. Acatech Impulse. Read the paper →

We cover all eight, and how they connect.

Every Briefing and Signal is mapped to one of eight layers, from Materials (Layer 0) through Laws & Values (Layer 7). The Framework page is both the explanation of that model and a living archive of everything we've published within it.

Briefings run to roughly 500 words and publish weekly. Signals are shorter — built to be read, and shared, in under a minute.

Independence

Beyond Beta is an independent publication. It carries no advertising and accepts no paid placements. Funding and any potential conflicts of interest will be disclosed here as they arise.

Contributors & contact

We periodically publish guest essays from practitioners and researchers working on technology sovereignty across Europe. To pitch a guest essay, propose a correction, or get in touch if you want to continue the discussion, reach the editorial team via the subscribe form below or through our editorial team's individual profiles on the Authors page as well as our email given in the impressum.