 "What is ‘tech sovereignty’ which Macron-Modi will push for at Paris AI Summit?")
French President Emmanuel Macron in an exclusive interview with Firstpost managing editor Palki Sharma said that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will push for ‘tech sovereignty.’
The interview comes as Modi heads to Paris for the AI Summit – which he will co-chair with Macron – which will witness 1,500 guests congregate in the French capital’s opulent Grand Palais.
US Vice-President JD Vance, Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing will be attendance along with tech bigwigs such as Google chief Sundar Pichai and OpenAI boss Sam Altman.
“I think with Prime Minister Modi we firmly believe that India and France are two great powers and we have a special relationship in respect to this. We respect and want to work with the United States, and we want to work with China but don’t want to depend on no one,” Macron said.
“India and France are leading. So we have the US and China far ahead. And then you have France, the UK, India, the UAE, and then Germany and the others. So we want to work together on AI. Prime Minister Modi is facing the same issue that all Americans and there are a few Chinese players in that space and he wants to benefit from the innovation, but he wants it to also be happening in India,” he added.
“Together we will develop technological sovereignty, we want to train our talent so that they can go abroad but they should also be at home and we can create data centres in India and France with sustainable energy and we want our own language model in France and India. We don’t want to depend on the US and the Chinese models and we want applications in all fields,” Macron further said.
But what do we know about tech sovereignty?
Let’s take a closer look:
What is it?
First, it is important to understand that there is no widely agreed upon definition of tech sovereignty.
According to FinWorks.com, tech sovereignty refers to a government’s ability to provide key technology necessary for the welfare of its citizens, competitiveness, and autonomy.
It calls for local control, ownership, and development of tech systems.
The German technical-scientific association VDE in a policy paper defines sovereignty as the ability of a state or society to implement political and social priorities, without being hindered by inadequate or lacking control of technology.
According to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, tech sovereignty means being part of the scientific development of digital and industrial key technologies.
As ScienceBusiness.net noted, the answer to that question depends on whom is answering.
The piece noted the many different agendas around the label and that it can be applied in dramatically different ways.
It also noted how the term is used interchangeably with other similar terms such as “strategic autonomy”, “regulatory sovereignty” and “ digital sovereignty.”
Origins of tech sovereignty
According to the Economic and Political Weekly, the concept of “technological sovereignty” first arose in the early 21st Century.
The piece noted that the concept is being increasingly used due to the sanctions by the West on Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Russia.
It also noted that India too suffered sanctions after the Pokhran-II test in 1998.
The concept came back into the spotlight during the COVID-19 crisis – particularly with European leaders who realised the need to reduce dependence on China and the United States after international supply chains began breaking down.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen singled out tech sovereignty as a key priority during her 2019 speech. Von der Leyen said the EU “must have mastery and ownership of key technologies in Europe” such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and chip technologies.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner told Politico that Europe needs “to be more self-sufficient, to be more independent, autonomous. Some say sovereign. We need to identify our own resources. We have some very good partners but we are dependent in some areas.”
In this context it may be instructive to look at Macron’s previous remarks on tech sovereignty.
“If we don’t build our own champions in all areas — digital, artificial intelligence,” Macron said in 2020 “our choices will be dictated by others.”
As per WeForum.org, in March 2021, the leaders of four European nations in joint letter to von der Leyen proposed making European ‘digital sovereignty’ a reality – and quickly.
“Now is the time for Europe to be digitally sovereign,” then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin wrote.
“We have to foster the Digital Single Market in all its dimensions where innovation can thrive and data flow freely. We need to effectively safeguard competition and market access in a data-driven world. Critical infrastructures and technologies need to become resilient and secure. It is time for the digitisation of governments in order to build trust and foster digital innovation.”
Why is it important?
According to FinWorks.com, tech sovereignty is important for a number of reasons.
These include
Letting countries protect their economic and political autonomy
Bringing down dependence on foreign technologies
Thereby reducing risk of foreign influence
Allowing governments to help citizens through innovation, growth, and development.
WeForum.org noted that tech sovereignty has become a worry for policymakers who think there is too much control in the hands of too few, too little choice in the tech market, and too much power in the hands of a few tech firms.
According to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, tech sovereignty reduces dependencies on foreign expertise and imports of critical supply chain technologies.
It also helps society become more prosperous, creates more skilled jobs, and contributes to a free and democratic order in the long term.
According to FinWorks.org, tech sovereignty lets countries transform their digital landscape, protect citizens, and foster innovation.
“By embracing technological sovereignty and taking decisive actions, we can create a digital landscape that respects privacy, ensures security, and empowers individuals. Let’s start supporting technological sovereignty and build a future where technology serves as a force for good,” the piece concluded.
What do experts say?
A piece in Outlook Business by Deepsekhar Choudhury noted that geopolitics and geopolitical conflicts are no longer what they used to be – because of technology.
“No longer does a nation need giant armies to annex territories or change regimes. Sophisticated chips and weaponised algorithms solve it all,” the piece stated.
It noted that India every moment puts out reams of data every moment – most of it stored abroad.
“It uses a broad range of technology to improve its citizen services. And almost all of it is run on chips sourced from China. Its large technology industry either provides services or is involved only in assembly-level manufacturing,” the piece noted.
It quoted Indian Institute of Technology-Madras director Veezhinathan Kamakoti as saying that “developed countries have attained technological sovereignty by inventing technologies and patenting them.”
“The moment of necessity for India to create its own critical technologies has arrived. Wars at present no longer depend only on navigation systems, aircraft and missiles. They have already spilled into telecommunications and will soon spill into automotives, energy and health care. And in the multipolar world order we are fast approaching, every sovereign nation will need its own technology,” the piece concluded.
With inputs from agencies
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