European companies are increasingly investing in their technological independence. According to the latest Accenture study „Sovereign AI: Own Your AI Future. From Managing Risk to Accelerating Growth“, they are placing greater emphasis on control over their data and infrastructure, and the demand for sovereign artificial intelligence is growing rapidly. The term refers to the ability to develop and operate AI using one's own resources such as infrastructure, data, models and specialists.
This development is driven by geopolitical tensions: 62% of European organizations rely on sovereign AI solutions. With 72% approval, Germany is one of the frontrunners alongside Denmark (80%) and Ireland (72%). Demand is particularly strong in regulation-intensive sectors with sensitive data, such as banking (76%), public administration (69%) and energy suppliers (70%).
Increasing willingness to invest
There are also signs of a significant increase in willingness to invest: 60% of European organizations want to increase their investments in sovereignty and control over cloud, AI, data and security in the next two years, particularly in Germany (73%), Italy (71%) and Switzerland (64%). Half of German organizations (49%) already have concrete plans for sovereign cloud solutions. This is almost twice as many as the European average (26%).
AI not from here
„Europe is in a dilemma: on the one hand, we need to accelerate the introduction of AI, but on the other hand, most of the technologies do not originate here. The fact that almost three quarters of companies in Germany want to increase their investments in this area shows clear determination,“ comments Christina Raab, CEO of Accenture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
„Sovereign AI solves the European dilemma: it protects critical processes and data without isolating from global innovation, paving the way for local renewal and growth. Both are imperative if we want to continue to invest in our technology ecosystem and pave the way for European companies to compete internationally.“
The survey shows that, on average, only 37 percent of AI initiatives and data in European organizations require a sovereign approach due to regulatory requirements or the sensitivity of the data.
Germany is no exception here (38.5%). European organizations are looking for a middle ground between data control and access to global innovation: 65% admit that they cannot remain competitive without non-European technology providers (Germany: 62%). Accordingly, 57 percent are considering sovereign solutions from both European and non-European providers. In Germany, the figure is 64 percent.
Germans rely on transparency
As it turns out, German organizations set their own priorities: they place above-average value on transparency in data access, storage and management (87% vs. 75% in Europe) as well as on clear contractual guarantees regarding jurisdiction, control and government access (84% vs. 65%). In contrast, they rate the physical presence of data centers in the country as less important (51% vs. 73%).
Source: Accenture
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