The pursuit of digital autonomy is now widely embraced. The government is seeking solutions to strengthen this digital autonomy and is preparing a new form of industrial policy. This creates opportunities for homegrown software builders, cloud providers, and AI solutions. But how do we verify that these companies are not simply staging an autonomy performance — promising independence while concealing dependency?
At the same time, autonomy is no guarantee that important public values are upheld. How do we prevent the creation of EU Big Tech? What guarantees on compliance with public values do we want to see in this new government industrial policy? These questions are central to the panel Values vs. Profits.