Objective
Today’s digital superpowers, the United States and China, exploit other countries’ reliance on their digital infrastructures for foreign policy and national security advantage. Governments in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere try to navigate this great power competition to retain “digital sovereignty”. A pivotal moment in these technology geopolitics is the ongoing “shift to cloud”. Instead of data being stored and processed on users’ own devices and on servers situated at organizations’ own premises, storage and processing are increasingly moving into “hyperscale” cloud data centres dotted around the world. This concentration generates significant economies of scale, decreases capital costs for firms and public sector organizations, and improves energy efficiency. However, it also creates new systemic risks, and since most of these data centres belong to U.S. and Chinese technology giants, will dramatically deepen other states’ technological dependence on them—unless smaller states succeed in shaping the shift to their advantage. In the GEOCLOUD project we will for the first time map this changing geography of computation and examine how different states are attempting to shape it with policies. Focusing on the digital superpowers’ key battlegrounds of Northern Europe and East/Southeast Asia, we will develop ways of measuring on a country level how exposed public sector and financial sector digital services are to cloud providers and how this exposure is evolving over time. We will use statistical analyses and interviews with policy makers and cloud executives to assess how effective government policies have been at shaping this exposure and at influencing the ownership and locations of hyperscale data centres. We will moreover theorize how government policies are interacting with large technology firms’ business strategies to generate new geopolitical dynamics that shape this geography of computation—and with it our prospects of digital sovereignty and dependence.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
02150 Espoo
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.