Digitisation has a similarly large and socially significant impact as book printing. Just as we had to learn to read in order to use books and writings as a new medium to our advantage, citizens, governments and businesses will only benefit from the digital age if they acquire new skills. Otherwise, unequal conditions threaten with a not yet foreseeable ratio of winners and losers.

To what extent is digital sovereignty the solution for the economy and society to experience the positive effects of digitisation? What competencies and technologies are necessary to enable self-determined action in the digital space in the sense of digital sovereignty? And, with regard to the EU, what role does the individual countries, including Austria, play in this? What changes make global strategies and transnational action necessary? Can there therefore be digital sovereignty for Austria?

Borderlessness

ITA director and co-author Michael Nentwich says: "Yes, to a certain extent there can be digital sovereignty in Austria, but without consistent action at various levels - national and international, both in technical and organisational and regulatory terms, and not least in public discourse, state sovereignty in the digital age could very soon be an obsolete model. Sovereignty claims meet those of other states. What was of little importance in pre-digital and non-globalized times now makes international strategies necessary. Large online platforms and companies have emerged as powerful non-state actors who can skilfully circumvent the effects of so-called "territorial sovereignty". State borders are playing an ever smaller role in the virtual world of international trade in goods, global services, the transnational provision of information and borderless communication.

First Mover

A clear framework needs to be set. "A stumbling in without a comprehensive digitisation strategy would mean giving up the creative power and becoming the plaything of the first movers," says Nentwich. Measures without an overall strategic concept could lead to a loss of sight for the whole, which could lead, for example, to critical security gaps, but also to a loss of society's trust in the sustainable safeguarding of digital sovereignty.

What to do next

As a first step, the experts should examine the open questions in their organisational units more closely and analyse the respective procedures. For politics and civil society, this means becoming aware of the issues raised and starting a comprehensive discussion on prudently considered, democratically controlled digital sovereignty.

By: TB