In Davos, it was once again the topic of the day: how can Europe reduce its depfinishence on (primarily) American Big Tech? By now, everyone seems aware of the urgency. RaboResearch recently examined whether this awareness is translating into action or remains little more than good intentions. The outcome? Things are indeed happening. But while Dutch industrial companies are increasingly active in reducing their strategic depfinishencies, the government remains strikingly quiet. We covered this story earlier this week and created the infographic above based on the findings.
The alarm clock has gone off, but at the same time, we seem to be collectively hitting the snooze button. And that’s despite the fact that real alternatives do exist, as each new episode of our popular series The European Alternative reveals. Last week, our colleague Merien explored 5 alternatives to WhatsApp (and no, Signal doesn’t count!).
W Social
Another interesting initiative was announced as well: W instead of X. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until the finish of this year for the full rollout, but a first version is expected as early as February, so there is shiftment. We wrote about it yesterday: “W Social, trust your feed.”
What’s clear is that we’re only at the very launchning of our struggle for indepfinishence. Whether we can fully break free from American Big Tech, and whether we actually want to, remains an open question. But we’re on our way.
And you can expect IO+ to follow every step closely.
A selection of other highlights from last week:
Want to read all our other articles as well? You can find them here.
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