Sovereignty by Design: How STACKIT Reimagines the European Cloud

Mr. Wagner, STACKIT advertises secure and tailor-made cloud solutions. Other providers do the same. What are you doing differently?
The advantages of our STACKIT Cloud are briefly summarized: Digital sovereignty, transparency, openness and the ability to switch.
As a sovereign cloud provider, we are characterized by the following features: Company, data centers and servers are located in Germany or Austria and are subject to all EU data protection regulations, which we fully comply with. They are georedundant and certified in accordance with EU security requirements and GDPR-compliant. We have an attestation for C5 of the BSI and we are ISAE 3000 (SOC 2) and ISAE 3402 certified. The data is safe from geopolitical crises and protected from access by unauthorized third parties (e.g. CLOUD Act). STACKIT also focuses on open source technology (to avoid a vendor lock-in) and thus on an active, independent and innovative community.

The STACKIT network has around 50 partners. What criteria does a company have to meet to become a partner?
Ideally, partner companies should share our vision for an independent Europe and must meet our cyber security and integrity requirements. Depending on the service they purchase from us and depending on the partnership, there are different license terms, copyright laws etcetera that must be complied with. We are therefore open to companies that would like to become partners and share our desire for digital sovereignty.

Data sovereignty is seen as strategically important, but at first it appears somewhat boring and vague. How do you sell data sovereignty as a desirable good?
We are on the threshold of a technological revolution that will fundamentally change our lives, our working world and the way we interact with each other. It is our task to guarantee our digital sovereignty for the future and to comply with European data protection standards and European values – without compromise. For us, digital sovereignty also means control over our data. We decide for ourselves where it is stored, whom we grant access to it and how we use it. This makes us independent of companies or governments that do not share our values. As a pioneer for digital sovereignty in Europe, we offer secure and powerful solutions in the areas of cloud, cyber security, artificial intelligence, communication and workplace in accordance with European principles. In this way, we enable you to use your data in a self-determined way and realize new potential – for an independent and growing Europe.

Talking about data sovereignty: With the DataHub Europe, Schwarz Digits/STACKIT is involved in a platform designed to enable secure and high-quality training of AI systems. So how does it work?
The DataHub Europe is a platform that brings together, processes and curates data from industry and the media landscape. This high-quality data is made available to partners to train AI models in a secure infrastructure. The aim is to implement company-specific AI solutions quickly, securely and beneficially as "real tools" in a wide range of business applications. Data partners from industry and media companies, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and DvH Medien (WirtschaftsWoche and Handelsblatt), provide their data. Clearly defined rules and mechanisms ensure that this sensitive data is only used for specific purposes. "AI made in Europe" therefore not only means technological excellence, but also that data partners retain sovereignty over their data and have the certainty that their data will be handled securely and trustworthily. The platform and AI partners Aleph Alpha, STACKIT, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the Technical University of Darmstadt / hessian.AI, enable the training of the models and that AI applications are developed and implemented on the sovereign platform. Companies, the public sector and scientific institutions can benefit from the value creation potential of this transparent data platform without having to accept restrictions on data protection or sovereignty over their data. Legal requirements such as the GDPR, the EU AI Act and copyright law are complied with.