Europe must be able to afford technological sovereignty

Europe has great potential, but it is not fully utilizing it. We also need investment in our own technologies to close the gap with global leaders - these are just some of the conclusions made by participants at the EEC Trends conference. The event, which will continue in April with the 17th European Economic Congress, was attended by more than 800 people, including owners of Poland's largest companies and top managers. One of the speakers in the debate, titled "Secure and Competitive Economy," which inaugurated the event, was Andrzej Dopierała, Vice President of Asseco Poland.

How to create a business-friendly environment, close the innovation gap and whether Poland has a chance in the technology race – these were one of the questions asked by editor-in-chief of Wnp.pl Aleksandra Helbin, who led the first debate.

Of course we have opportunities, and here I would like to remind such a term: digital sovereignt, said Andrzej Dopierała. This digital sovereignty is worth looking at from two levels: the digital sovereignty of the European Union versus the rest of the world, and the digital sovereignty of each individual country. These threads have points of contact, but they also oppose each other in certain situations, he added.

At the same time, the Asseco expert noted that large projects require support from institutions to offset the potential of capital that is invested in Silicon Valley, for example. In Poland, there are declarations that technologies should be largely domestic, but decisive changes are needed to translate this into action.

Andrzej Dopierała also cited the example of artificial intelligence and the hypothetical scenario that a solution similar to China's DeepSeek is being developed in the European Union. Turning to digital sovereignty at the state level, he emphasised that each country could use the code to create its own models so as to maintain independence. However, he made no secret of the fact that while Europe can afford technological sovereignty, as a continent we are far from where we could already be.

We are living in times like never before. Every technological revolution is a chance for someone who is in the shadows to jump out. It is important that we, as the European Community, are able to take advantage of this, said the Vice President of Asseco Poland. Together we are stronger, as Europe we are a big player, he concluded.