Tech-optimism from the heart of Europe. Bridging EU policymaking with Europe's tech entrepreneurs. Led by @KayJebelli
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Joined September 2025
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๐ ๐ช๐บ Welcome to DG Progress! ๐ช๐บ ๐
The European Commission doesnโt yet have a Directorate-General dedicated to Europeโs economic, social, and consumer progressโso weโre filling in.
DG Progress is here to help bridge the gap between Europeโs builders and our policymaking bubble. We will shed light on Europe's strengths, advocate for what its innovators need to make the next great leaps, and share ways to get involved.
๐ฌ Subscribe here: dgprogress.eu/
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ณ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐
โ๏ธ The weekend read is Matthias Bauer's occasional paper for ECIPE, "The Real-World Economic Impact of CADA", which came out last week.
His ten-year cumulative estimate: "โฌ๐ฏ๐ฑ.๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ, โฌ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ โฌ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ณโ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฒ", with Medium his central case. Roughly ๐ฒ๐ต% of that central figure is not a fee or a licence. It is software migration and rewriting โ engineers moving working code so it sits somewhere that meets an imposed "sovereignty" score.
So why did the EC come out at such a wildly different estimate, and which number is close to the truth?
Worth a weekend if you have ever costed a migration, because that is what two thirds of this bill is, and it is the part that the impact assessment might be weakest on โ๏ธ๐ช๐บ
Source: ecipe.org/publications/econoโฆ
๐๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐ด๐น๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด
โ๏ธ ๐ฉ๐ช ๐๐ช๐ฆ will run the exercise on Saturday 24 October: "For several hours, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud will operate without a connection to the AWS Global Network backbone." Traffic reroutes over European internet providers.
The operational team is made up ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐จ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐, working from inside the EU. The data centres are in Brandenburg, physically and logically separate from other AWS regions, with a local in-EU copy of the source code. The exercise is built against the Commission's own EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework and the German BSI's C3A criteria.
Credit where it is due. We have criticised that framework for scoring suppliers by where they are domiciled, and what it has produced here is better than a score. An operator is going to demonstrate the thing rather than assert it, in public, on a named date. That is a test a European buyer can watch โ and can ask any other supplier to repeat. โ๏ธ๐ช๐บ
Source: aws.amazon.com/blogs/securitโฆ
๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ โฌ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐
โก ๐ฉ๐ช On 15 October ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ of Hamburg closed a Series B of โฌ50 million led by Endeit alongside the DeepTech & Climate Fonds. HV Capital, High-Tech Grรผnderfonds, Bosch Ventures, CNI, Acurio Ventures and vent.io took part.
๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ have signed up in three and a half years. The target is a million.
Jan Rabe, chief executive: โThe next generation of power plants will not be built; it will be connected.โ
Wind and solar have made European power nearly free in some hours but not all. What is scarce is not generation but somebody there to soak up the cheap hours and stand down in the tight ones. A battery in a rented flat needs no site, no planning permission and no place in a connection queue. Two hundred thousand of them is a power station nobody had to build. โก๐ช๐บ
Source: htgf.de/en/rabot-energy-raisโฆ
In this month's "๐ The Bridge"
โInstead of pre-regulating all kinds of possible future scenarios out of fear, we should embrace innovation.โ
MEP Svenja Hahn was a shadow rapporteur on the AI Act and one of its bluntest critics when the final text landed. Sheโs also one of Parliamentโs most consistent voices against AI-powered mass surveillance and chat control โ which, as she makes clear, is one position and not two.
We asked her what a tech-friendly mindset actually requires, whether the AI Act strikes the balance its own recitals claim, and how seriously Europe has taken Draghi and Letta.
The full interview is in Octoberโs newsletter ๐
dgprogress.eu/i/221280961/thโฆ
๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ข๐ป๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐'๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ
๐ฅ๏ธ ๐ธ๐ช On 15 October, in Stockholm, the ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ initiative launched Sferical One, which it calls a sovereign AI supercomputer: "an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD built on NVIDIA DGX GB300 systems". Ericsson says it has been running since late summer.
The owners are the interesting part. ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฏ, ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ founded it, with the bearings maker SKF as a strategic partner. A telecoms vendor, a pharmaceutical company, a defence group, a bank and an industrial investor. No investment figure has been disclosed.
Jenny Nordlรถw, chief executive of Sferical AI: "Sferical One enables the companies to train and run AI models at a larger scale on a sovereign platform."
Six countries buying one supercomputer together is a familiar European argument, and it usually takes a government programme. Six companies did this one without one. None of them could justify the machine alone, none competes with the others, and what they share is not the hardware but what gets learned on it. That's European collaboration at work ๐ฅ๏ธ๐ช๐บ
Source: ericsson.com/en/news/2026/10โฆ
๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ'๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ณ% ๐๐ผ ๐ญ๐ด% ๐ถ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐บ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
๐ ๐ช๐บ On 14 October the European Commission's ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฒ published "AI adoption across European strategic sectors", built on Eurostat's survey of ICT use in enterprises, 2021 to 2025.
It puts AI use across the ten sectors the EU calls strategic at ๐ญ๐ด% ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐๐ฝ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ณ% ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ญ. Energy sector went from 18% to 34%, electronics from 12% to 30%.
Across the rest of the EU economy the same measure went from ๐ด% ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฌ%.
The JRC's own conclusion is that "Sector-specific measures for AI adoption are essential for a deeper integration of AI into core processes".
But the progress so far is encouraging. Adoption more than doubled in four years in every sector measured, and slightly faster outside the strategic list than on it. What moves all ten at once is horizontal: legal certainty, access to the frontier, and people who can use it. ๐๐ช๐บ
Source: joint-research-centre.ec.eurโฆ
