Made in Europe: European Innovation Challenges Tech Giants

written by Bénédicte Nuding & Alexandra Carballo Porto | May 27^th, 2025

In a digital world in which a few tech companies dominate the scene worldwide, European companies are faced with a crucial question: How can we build our technological strength while preserving our values and digital sovereignty? Our dependence on non-European providers in critical areas such as cloud infrastructures, communication platforms and AI is affecting our security, resilience and innovation. Change is on the way in Europe. Driven by increasing demand for quality, ethics and digital sovereignty, innovative companies at the center of this development are daring to challenge the non-European big techs.

“Made in Europe”: More than a Label – a Value!

Our global economy is characterized by international manufacturing, so “Made in Europe” is becoming an important label and has started to establish itself as a safe haven. It stands for a set of values and characteristics that are decisive for companies and consumers. At a time of increasing global instability and the evident security risks posed by technological dependencies, investing in solid European alternatives is no longer a choice, but an urgent necessity!

"Made in Europe" is more than a response to global challenges. It is based on a solid foundation of strengths to characterize European products and services:

Initiatives Respond to Europe’s Technological Dependence

The European digital ecosystem is fragile and dependent due to a lack of vision, inconsistent industrial policy and fragmented markets. Although the political focus may currently be elsewhere, decisive initiatives are forming on the sidelines that offer solutions. An outstanding example is EuroStack², born in the European Parliament (September 2024), with broad support. EuroStack brings together key players to promote technological independence, increase competitiveness, be innovative and create robust infrastructure. It is based on key EU values such as democracy and sustainability.

This need to strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness in strategic sectors is reflected in initiatives such as GAIA-X, the European Processor Initiative (EPI) and "Go European". GAIA-X³ pursues the goal of a European cloud and data infrastructure based on European values and standards. It represents an alternative to non-European providers to secure data sovereignty. The European Processor Initiative (EPI)⁴ focuses on the development and production of energy-efficient high-performance computing processors in Europe to reduce dependence on non-European chip manufacturers. "Go European" ⁵ aims to increase the visibility and use of European products and services through a community database, thus promoting the local economy.

innovaphone: European Platform for Business Communications & Digital Collaboration

In a market dominated by global players, innovaphone is positioning itself as the convincing European alternative for business communication. As a German company with deeply rooted European values, innovaphone offers technologically advanced and flexible communication solutions as well as highest levels of security and data protection "Made in Germany".

Since data sovereignty and compliance with strict European directives such as the GDPR, innovaphone is an attractive option for companies that value the security of their corporate communication and business data. In contrast to providers outside Europe, innovaphone customers benefit from the direct application of European laws and transparent data processing in trusted European data centers.

Since data sovereignty and compliance with strict European directives such as the GDPR, innovaphone is an attractive option for companies that value the security of their corporate communication and business data. In contrast to providers outside of Europe, innovaphone customers benefit from the immediate implementation of European laws and transparent data processing in trustworthy European data centers.

innovaphone distinguishes itself by its high flexibility and adaptability to the manifold needs of the European market. The digital working environment innovaphone myApps is designed on a modular basis and scalable. myApps is a central platform that also offers a perfect alternative to solutions such as Microsoft (teams), zoom or slack. This is particularly interesting for companies that value European sovereignty and maximum data control and want to be independent of large - often American or Chinese - providers.

Also in terms of innovation and technological development, innovaphone is every bit as good as its competitors. Continuous own research and development ensures that the company is driving forward the integration of the latest technologies. The portfolio offers future-proof solutions and productivity applications for the modern working world.

A key feature that sets innovaphone apart is the consistent focus on the European market - from development to production. The products and solutions are developed in Germany and produced in Europe. This commitment to Europe as a location is a quality feature that also offers tangible advantages in terms of security and compliance. Customers can rest assured that the products are manufactured in compliance with strict European standards. The supply chains are transparent and traceable.

It shows that “Made in Europe” goes far beyond a mere declaration of origin. It is a seal of quality that stands for quality, ethical production, sustainability, data security and support for the European economy - values that are becoming increasingly important in an intensely complex and globalized world.

^Sources:

^{1 La dépendance technologique aux softwares & cloud services américains : une estimation des conséquences économiques en Europe - Cigref}

^{2 https://euro-stack.eu/a-pitch-paper/}

^{3 Home - Gaia-X: A Federated Secure Data Infrastructure}

^{4 https://www.european-processor-initiative.eu/}

^{5 https://www.goeuropean.org/}