• • October 28, 2025
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• • October 28, 2025

Digital sovereignty is increasingly becoming a central issue at the crossroads of technology, security, and geopolitics. As U.S. – China competition intensifies, the EU seeks to balance its ambitions for strategic autonomy with economic realities, while renewed tensions under President Trump have made transatlantic cooperation more difficult. These concerns grew in March 2025 when the United States briefly paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, sparking fears that access to U.S. technology could be limited for partners. In Germany, the Merz government has elevated digital sovereignty to a top national priority, unveiling plans for a “Deutschland-Stack” –a secure, domestic digital infrastructure that fits into the EU’s broader “Eurostack” vision for a fully European tech ecosystem. Yet despite these ambitious initiatives, transatlantic economies, and digital networks remain deeply interconnected, and achieving full sovereignty will be a long-term process. The drive for independence could also clash with the need for innovation, openness, international collaboration, and economic resilience. With this as background, Aspen Germany hosted a select group of high-level decision makers from industry, government, politics, and civil society to an exclusive luncheon roundtable to discuss these and other issues. Aspen Germany was honored to hear input statements from Robert Heinrich, Deputy Director-General for Digital Economy, Artificial Intelligence, and Data at the German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation, Sabastian Niles, President & Chief Legal Officer at Salesforce, and Anna Wohlfarth, Executive Director at interface.