Innovate Switzerland Community Calls for Six Action Areas to Achieve Swiss Digital Sovereignty
- The Innovate Switzerland Community has released a position paper, the first of its kind, proposing key actions to achieve Swiss digital sovereignty
- Members call for clear actions to accelerate a balanced control over Switzerland’s digital infrastructure enabling collaboration with other countries and organizations in the digital realm
- The paper highlights preconditions that are needed to ensure Switzerland remains one of the most competitive and innovative countries also in a digital world
Zurich, 10th May 2023. The Innovate Switzerland Community has released a first of its kind position paper proposing six action areas to achieve digital sovereignty. The community, which comprises private and public organizations, aims to promote the responsible use of data and public cloud technology in Switzerland and strengthen the country’s innovative power in the digital age. The members call for clear actions to create a balance between regulation, interconnectivity, and international cooperation, which are essential to maintain Switzerland’s position as a leading digital nation.
The community defined the following six action areas:
- Establish governance model for data sovereignty: Switzerland can leverage its strong data protection standards and diverse ecosystem of institutions to become a leader in data innovation and arbitration.
- Strengthen international reach and cooperation: Switzerland can use its data infrastructure expertise to shape global digitalization standards and practices in collaboration with other actors.
- Set up a forward-looking regulation: A public strategic foresight system is a way to identify and assess new digital technologies and their impacts in a timely and unbiased manner, avoiding harmful or restrictive regulations and enabling their safe and beneficial use.
- Prioritize the digitalization of public authorities: Switzerland must train its public actors in key technologies and link them with existing processes to become an expert in digitalizing administration and enhance its legal framework and competence level. This ensures trust and credibility.
- Build up a digital democracy: To build a better digital society, technology needs to be used creatively and responsibly to engage and educate people in policymaking and science, and to ensure transparency and accountability.
- Ensure the resilience of critical operating systems: Switzerland must ensure the reliability and resilience of its critical system components, such as digital infrastructure, energy-grid, workforce, and legal and policy framework, to cope with various challenges like cyberattacks, public health crises or energy transition.
In 2023, digital sovereignty was also identified as one of the three focus themes in the Swiss Federal digital strategy – with one of the first measures being the definition of the term. The paper highlights that digital sovereignty is not just about protecting data or technological independence, but it is also about leveraging data-based innovation and sustaining self-determination. The Innovate Switzerland Community is convinced of Switzerland’s potential to establish future-oriented skills with an impact reaching far beyond its borders and building international trust.
“The considerations and insights from all actors, such as businesses, academia, and others, are of great value to our work in the federal administration. We are pleased to be able to better integrate the needs of various stakeholders into our initiatives through this approach,” says Roger Dubach, Ambassador, Deputy Director, Directorate of International Law at EDA – DFAE – FDFA.
In the paper, the community also discusses three preconditions that are needed as a foundation in all six action areas to turn the concept of digital sovereignty into practice. These include:
- an ongoing fact-based discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of a good balance between control and global interconnectivity;
- the availability and understanding of key digital technologies;
- and a systematic coordination of relevant actors across industries and disciplines for knowledge and technology transfer and purpose-driven projects.
In order to succeed, different stakeholders need to be assigned to specific roles but share responsibility. Their main challenge will be in translating the theoretical concepts around digital sovereignty efficiently and promptly into practical legal and business measures. “Innovate Switzerland’s position paper is a significant milestone in the ongoing efforts to promote responsible use of data and public cloud technologies in Switzerland,” highlights Yari Iannelli, director and legal counsel at Leonteq.
Read Innovate Switzerland’s full position paper here:
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About Innovate Switzerland
Innovate Switzerland is a community of companies and organizations founded in 2022 that promotes the responsible use of data and public cloud technology in Switzerland and strengthen the country’s innovative power in the digital age. The community aims to accelerate digital innovation by building on the strategic importance of emerging technologies.
The community consists of private and public organizations, including ABB, Abraxas, Bank Avera, ELCA Group, EY, heyPatient, KPMG, Leonteq and Microsoft. The think tank W.I.R.E. moderates the community’s exchange.