True digital sovereignty requires not only technical solutions but also knowledge, expertise, and an openness to learn, adapt and share – in a word: capacity. For productive, sovereign cloud environments, open-source software is available, is continuously updated and, for the most part, well documented ;-). However, there is still a shortage of engineers who understand the technology and who can further develop, operate, innovate and contribute back to the community. If Europe, Germany or any other country wants to achieve digital sovereignty, it needs to have its own engineers – and not just one or two, but a whole host of them! That is why SOVCAP has been set up.
SOVCAP – the Sovereign Cloud Capacity Programme – is bringing together universities and industry partners to create a network of secure, sovereign clouds used for cloud-native development and the secure sharing of knowledge. But the initiative is not just building infrastructure; it is building the future workforce. By creating open-source university curricula and further-education courses, they are training the next generation to build, operate and scale secure cloud technologies. This forms the foundation of cloud-native software development and digital sovereign cloud hosting, including AI tools.
In this talk, the multi-stakeholder initiative is introduced by members from universities and ALASCA e.V.; the aim is outlined and initial results are presented. A growing community for genuine digital sovereignty.
