Get over your X: A European plan to escape American technology
Foreign technology companies cannot be entrusted with meeting Europe’s growing digital needs. This includes American big tech firms. Here’s what Europeans should do
Technology and Information
Featured
Control-Alt-Deliver: A digital grand strategy for the European Union
The EU is falling behind the US and China in the digital realm. It urgently needs a new agenda combining innovation, security, and influence for an age of geopoliticised technology
Back to the future: How the EU can upgrade its AI Continent Action Plan
Europe has launched its bid to be a global leader in artificial intelligence. But the EU will need a more ambitious AI Continent Action Plan to catch up to its tech rivals
Don’t look down: How Europeans can escape China’s clean-tech gravity
China’s manufacturing surge and trade tactics are dampening Europe’s clean-tech goals. Europeans need to forge coalitions across wary member states to secure their energy independence
Get over your X: A European plan to escape American technology
Foreign technology companies cannot be entrusted with meeting Europe’s growing digital needs. This includes American big tech firms. Here’s what Europeans should do
3
Jun
Commerce, finance, tech: quelle réponse européenne face à Trump?
Ce déjeuner a été l’occasion d’évoquer les défis économiques auxquels les entreprises européennes seront confrontées en 2025 et au-delà. La directrice du programme géoéconomie de l’ECFR, Agathe Demarais, est revenue sur les enjeux commerciaux, financiers et technologiques auxquels les Européens font face dans leurs relations avec l’administration Trump 2.0. Elle a également identifié les leviers…
Tide turners: How startups can shape Europe’s tech future and geoeconomic strategy
European startups have long struggled to scale at home, but a new EU strategy could finally position the continent as a global innovation leader
European Power
Unpacking the EU’s Global Digital Strategy
As technological innovation continues to reshape the global economy and intensify geopolitical competition, the recently published International Digital Strategy reaffirms the EU’s commitment to external digital action. This strategy sets out to deepen international partnerships by enhancing digital competitiveness and security, both within the EU and among its international allies. It…
Disinformation for beginners: How access to TikTok is threatening European security
TikTok is helping facilitate the spread of disinformation and enhancing cyber security threats throughout Europe. The EU should implement a four-step strategy to mitigate any nefarious impacts of the social media platform on its democratic process and security
European Power
Defence without America? What Europeans are (and aren’t) ready for
Days before a high-stakes NATO summit, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) hosts to a timely webinar on European public attitudes towards Europe’s defence, the first turbulent months of President Trump’s new term, and the capacity of Europe to respond to a changing transatlantic reality. This webinar will launch our brand-new public opinion report,…
Caught in the crossfire: Why the EU and India must collaborate on clean technology
The EU’s and India’s ambitions to become more self reliant on clean technology is facing significant geoeconomic hurdles. To overcome them, they need to work together
European Power
AI and the Rise of Great Powers
Europeans want to be part of the AI leadership conversation that has been dominated by the innovation breakthroughs of the US and China. In his new book, Jeffrey Ding challenges conventional wisdom on how technological revolutions affect geopolitical competition. Drawing from the history of past industrial revolutions, he argues that what matters is not where…
Alone we stand: How Europe can counter hybrid threats in a post-transatlantic era
The US is retreating from its history of shared threat recognition and multilateral engagement with Europe. Now the EU must confront Russia’s intensifying hybrid aggression alone—while bolstering its own resilience
Publications
Don’t look down: How Europeans can escape China’s clean-tech gravity
China’s manufacturing surge and trade tactics are dampening Europe’s clean-tech goals. Europeans need to forge coalitions across wary member states to secure their energy independence
Get over your X: A European plan to escape American technology
Foreign technology companies cannot be entrusted with meeting Europe’s growing digital needs. This includes American big tech firms. Here’s what Europeans should do
Control-Alt-Deliver: A digital grand strategy for the European Union
The EU is falling behind the US and China in the digital realm. It urgently needs a new agenda combining innovation, security, and influence for an age of geopoliticised technology
Byting back: The EU’s digital alliance with Latin America and the Caribbean
The EU can counter Chinese and Russian influence through a digital alliance with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
Iron net: Digital repression in the Middle East and North Africa
Governments across the world have powerful digital tools to control and repress their populations. The EU should treat this as an urgent security and political concern
The geopolitics of technology: How the EU can become a global player
The digital space is a key battleground in today’s global power struggles. For the EU to become a global player in the geopolitics of technology, it needs an ambitious external digital strategy – one that allows it to secure its interests, values, and standing in a world of intensifying geo-technological competition
Gateway to growth: How the European Green Deal can strengthen Africa’s and Europe’s economies
Africa’s burgeoning innovation economies offer huge opportunities for the continent – and for Europe as it looks to tackle the climate crisis and respond to China’s BRI global connectivity programme
Geo-tech politics: Why technology shapes European power
New technologies are a significant force shaping international relations. If the EU wants to be more than a mediator between the US and China, it will need to change its mindset
Network effects: Europe’s digital sovereignty in the Mediterranean
The EU has the ambition and potential to become a sovereign digital power, but it lacks an all-encompassing strategy for the sector, in which individual governments are still the key players
Artificial divide: How Europe and America could clash over AI
Artificial intelligence is a rapidly advancing field that policymakers everywhere are struggling to keep up with
Articles
Tide turners: How startups can shape Europe’s tech future and geoeconomic strategy
European startups have long struggled to scale at home, but a new EU strategy could finally position the continent as a global innovation leader
Disinformation for beginners: How access to TikTok is threatening European security
TikTok is helping facilitate the spread of disinformation and enhancing cyber security threats throughout Europe. The EU should implement a four-step strategy to mitigate any nefarious impacts of the social media platform on its democratic process and security
Caught in the crossfire: Why the EU and India must collaborate on clean technology
The EU’s and India’s ambitions to become more self reliant on clean technology is facing significant geoeconomic hurdles. To overcome them, they need to work together
Alone we stand: How Europe can counter hybrid threats in a post-transatlantic era
The US is retreating from its history of shared threat recognition and multilateral engagement with Europe. Now the EU must confront Russia’s intensifying hybrid aggression alone—while bolstering its own resilience
Chips on the menu: How the EU can get its act together on semiconductors
The EU is planning a Chips Act 2.0 for the Trumpian age. Europeans should look to Japan for inspiration and make “strategic indispensability” the base of their new industrial recipe
Back to the future: How the EU can upgrade its AI Continent Action Plan
Europe has launched its bid to be a global leader in artificial intelligence. But the EU will need a more ambitious AI Continent Action Plan to catch up to its tech rivals
Regulate or stagnate: Why the EU must lead on AI
While the US administration dodges regulation in the name of innovation, the real problem is the lack of common rules. Europe has an opportunity to set the standard—if it’s bold enough to take it
Deep pockets, DeepSeek, and the EU’s digital drift
The US and China are racing to dominate artificial intelligence, while Europe remains a cautious spectator. If the bloc wants a future in tech, it must go big on industrial AI—or go home
Big tech, Donald Trump, and “techno-imperialism”: How Europe can avoid becoming a digital colony
US tech giants are preparing to test the EU’s resolve, emboldened by support from the Trump administration. The EU will need to prepare itself for the inevitable clash to safeguard its democratic and technological future
From niche innovations to global powerhouse: An EU quantum strategy
Quantum technologies are transforming the global economic and security landscape, and the EU has much to gain. But without decisive action to address funding gaps and coordination challenges, its leadership potential may remain unrealised
Podcasts
Infrastructures and connectivity: Building bridges
In the first big multilateral test for prime minister Giorgia Meloni, this mini-series will explore the four main priorities of Italy’s 2024 G7 presidency: Ukraine, AI, infrastructure, and Africa
The AI-talian job: challenges and opportunities
In the first big multilateral test for prime minister Giorgia Meloni, this mini-series will explore the four main priorities of Italy’s 2024 G7 presidency: Ukraine, AI, infrastructure, and Africa
Algorithmic agendas: The globalisation of political technology
Mark Leonard welcomes Andrew Wilson to discuss political technology and the globalisation of political manipulation
Rethinking the purpose of AI with Stuart Russell
Mark Leonard is joined by Stuart Russell to discuss artificial intelligence’s capabilities to solve global problems and humans’ ability to control its dark side
The global race for semiconductor hegemony
How do chips decide power in today’s geopolitical competition?
Lessons for a post-Ukraine world with Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria discusses the political, geopolitical, and geo-economic changes to the world order after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The Age of Unpeace: Therapy for internationalists | Session 1 with Marietje Schaake
Join us on this journey to a more therapeutic approach to international relations. The mini-series brings you five episodes with guests including today’s Marietje Schaake, Thomas Wright, and Anne Marie Slaughter
Lead time: How Germany should move on from Merkel | Episode 4 – Tech
What are the necessary steps the new German government needs to take to advance and support European tech sovereignty?
The geopolitics of technology
The EU is often described as a “regulatory superpower” benefitting from the so-called “Brussels effect.” But is the bloc also able to set its own rules and standards when it comes to new technologies?
Events
European Power
Unpacking the EU’s Global Digital Strategy
As technological innovation continues to reshape the global economy and intensify geopolitical competition, the recently published International Digital Strategy reaffirms the EU’s commitment to external digital action. This strategy sets out to deepen international partnerships by enhancing digital competitiveness and security, both within the EU and among its international allies. It…
European Power
Defence without America? What Europeans are (and aren’t) ready for
Days before a high-stakes NATO summit, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) hosts to a timely webinar on European public attitudes towards Europe’s defence, the first turbulent months of President Trump’s new term, and the capacity of Europe to respond to a changing transatlantic reality. This webinar will launch our brand-new public opinion report,…
European Power
AI and the Rise of Great Powers
Europeans want to be part of the AI leadership conversation that has been dominated by the innovation breakthroughs of the US and China. In his new book, Jeffrey Ding challenges conventional wisdom on how technological revolutions affect geopolitical competition. Drawing from the history of past industrial revolutions, he argues that what matters is not where…
3
Jun
Commerce, finance, tech: quelle réponse européenne face à Trump?
Ce déjeuner a été l’occasion d’évoquer les défis économiques auxquels les entreprises européennes seront confrontées en 2025 et au-delà. La directrice du programme géoéconomie de l’ECFR, Agathe Demarais, est revenue sur les enjeux commerciaux, financiers et technologiques auxquels les Européens font face dans leurs relations avec l’administration Trump 2.0. Elle a également identifié les leviers…
27
May
Conectando regiones, cerrando brechas, construyendo soberanías: La UE y América Latina-Caribe en el nuevo contexto internacional
El European Council on Foreign Relations, en colaboración con la Fundación Carolina, organizó un debate público el pasado martes, 27 de mayo de 16:30 a 18:30 h CEST en la Sala Cervantes de Casa de América para presentar el informe “Conectando regiones, cerrando brechas, construyendo soberanía: La Alianza Digital UE-ALC. Recomendaciones de cara a la Cumbre UE-CELAC”. En un contexto marcado por la creciente confrontación geopolítica y…
European Power
No brain, no brawn: How Trump 2.0 makes an EU Economic Security Network essential
The EU lacks cohesive governance to deploy economic statecraft tools, such as sanctions and export controls, undermining their impact and the bloc’s global credibility. In this webinar, Agathe Demarais and Abraham Newman will discuss their recent policy brief, outlining how the creation of an EU network focused on the design and implementation of these…
14
Apr
United States
Transatlantic Forum, 8th Edition – La competizione USA-Cina per la sicurezza tecnologica
Questa edizione del Transatlantic Forum vedrà il contributo di voci dal mondo accademico, dei think tank e del settore strategico, per discutere delle tensioni tra Stati Uniti e Cina, dalla competizione tecnologica all’evoluzione delle minacce ibride, dal cyberspazio alle infrastrutture critiche. Al centro del dibattito anche il ruolo dell’Europa tra interdipendenza e autonomia strategica, e…
2
Apr
Tech Summit, 4th Edition – EU Tech Power and Diplomacy: Searching for Political Consensus
The 2025 Tech Summit will explore the upcoming challenges and the necessary actions for the EU to bolster its technological sovereignty while enhancing its competitive edge globally. A key focus will be the topic of achieving a balance between innovation and regulation by empowering the EU to harness digital diplomacy and shape international technology governance
25
Feb
European Power
From water to airspace – Geopolitical tensions and security infrastructures: what role for Europe
ECFR is organizing a series of closed-door workshops in the framework of the project “Towards an Open, Free and Global Internet” funded by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and in partnership with Italian foreign policy magazine Formiche. After a first meeting on the content layer of the internet, which was held in Rome in June…
27
Nov
European Power
The EU in the age of Digital Empires
The internet has upended the world order. The exercise of power and governance in the digital sphere has become a major source of geopolitical contestation. At the heart of this competition lay technical standards, which can define what kind of values and visions will technologies embed. But while the EU uses standards to regulate the…
In the media
Teresa Coratella on disinformation as a means of hybrid warfare in Europe
