Altmaier's cloud initiative and the pursuit of European digital sovereignty. The European Cloud Initiative *Costs billions, but it’s gotta be better than the clouds of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and the NSA. European Cloud Initiative to give Europe a global lead in the data-driven economy. GAIA-X is recognised as a European foundation for future European data spaces. As a member since its inception A1 Telekom Austria Group GAIA-X through its subsidiary A1 Digital. The EESC proposes a European cloud open to all citizens and businesses. European Cloud Initiative. By Anastasia Panori on 19 April 2016. Making research data openly available can help boost Europe's competitiveness by benefitting start-ups, SMEs and data- According to this press release by the European Commission, European Cloud Initiative will give Europe a global lead in the data-driven economy. On 19th of April 2016, the European Commission presented its blueprint for cloud-based services and world-class data infrastructure to ensure science, business and public services reap benefits of big data revolution. Posted in Innovation Strategies. The European Commission presented how it intends to give Europe a lead in the data-driven economy by enabling cloud-based services and world-class infrastructures for industry, scientists and public services. European Cloud Initiative. The Commission's European Cloud Initiative aims to create a world-class data infrastructure geared to the scientific community to be used by researchers and scientists and subsequently by public services, innovative SMEs and industry, making it possible to move, share and re-use data in order to boost Europe's competitiveness. The European Cloud Initiative will make it easier for researchers and innovators to access and re-use data, and will reduce the cost of data storage and high-performance analysis. Through self-descriptions, the digital services and infrastructure are becoming more transparent for the user, which is a focus of the European Cloud initiative. The economic prospects of cloud computing and the data-driven economy are very promising. The EESC supports and endorses the Commission's strategic choice of an open European computing cloud geared to the scientific community, as part of a strong political and economic commitment to digital innovation. At the summit, Dr. Ronny Reinhardt (Cloud&Heat) and Pierre Gronlier (OVH Cloud) will present a GAIA-X demonstrator, highlighting the importance of the self-descriptions for the project. The European Commission has published proposals for a new cloud initiative – part of a package of measures designed to enhance the EU’s position in the global, data-driven economy However, fragmentation, differences in data policies, scarce incentives, interoperability problems and lack of high-capacity data infrastructure, among other challenges, are slowing down its development in Europe. A1 Telekom Austria Group is supporting the EU initiative, GAIA-X, with the goal of promoting a common European cloud policy.