On 5 March 2026, the second Sovereignty Hub of the Cyber Security Council Germany e.V. took place in Berlin. Under the title “The Germany Stack – Substantive Future Strategy or Just Another Buzzword?”, representatives from business, technology, and public administration came together to discuss the current status, strategic relevance, and practical prerequisites of the Germany Stack.
After the welcome address by Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, President of the Cyber Security Council Germany e.V., the hub leaders Stefan Gockel (Enginsight GmbH) and Bernd Ochsmann (AERAsec Network Services and Security GmbH) introduced the objectives of the event.
The central question of the hub was what role the Germany Stack could play in the future for digital sovereignty, technological interoperability, and the modernization of public administration.
Perspectives from Technology, Infrastructure, and Europe
The first keynote was delivered by Peter Rost (secunet Security Networks AG), who framed the Germany Stack as a potential converging target framework for the digitalization of public administration at the federal, state, and municipal levels. He emphasized that the Germany Stack should not be understood merely as a technological collection of individual components, but rather as an attempt to establish common standards and foundations for interoperable administrative IT. At the same time, structural challenges were highlighted, particularly the federal distribution of responsibilities and the wide variety of IT solutions across federal, state, and municipal administrations.
Christoph Streit (ScaleUp Technologies GmbH & Co. KG) then addressed the importance of open source, open standards, and collaboration for building a sovereign digital infrastructure. He stressed that open technologies and standardized interfaces are key prerequisites for reducing dependencies on proprietary cloud ecosystems and enabling long-term technological choice. At the same time, a technology stack based on open standards could increase interoperability between different providers and thereby promote competition based on quality and performance.
Dr. Sybe Izaak Rispens (booost.eu GmbH) placed the Germany Stack within a European context, referring to developments around the EuroStack initiative. He highlighted that Europe has already created important foundations for a more strategic understanding of digital sovereignty, for example through clearly defined criteria for technical, legal, operational, and economic sovereignty. In his view, the Germany Stack could benefit from these European developments, particularly with regard to governance structures, procurement strategies, and stronger implementation focus.
The final keynote was delivered by Mark Neufurth (IONOS SE), who described the Germany Stack as a possible structural framework for a modern and lean digital administration. From his perspective, the Germany Stack should primarily rely on clearly defined standards, interfaces, and protocols that function independently of individual technologies. Such an approach could help reduce technological complexity while simultaneously enabling innovation. Crucially, the Germany Stack should not evolve into a bureaucratic structure, but rather be understood as an open, adaptable, and user-oriented system.
Interactive Workshop: Perspectives from Practice and Industry
During the subsequent workshop, participants discussed key questions regarding the practical implementation of the Germany Stack in several groups. The aim was to combine challenges, expectations, and potential solutions from different perspectives.
Several key aspects emerged from the discussions:
- Preconditions for Federal-Level Implementation
Many participants emphasized that the Germany Stack currently lacks binding commitments and clear governance structures. For broader implementation, binding frameworks, clearly defined responsibilities, and improved coordination between federal, state, and municipal levels are required.
It was also noted that the Germany Stack will only gain acceptance if it produces tangible and functional solutions in practice.
- Competition with Global Cloud Providers
Another discussion point focused on how European or German providers can remain competitive with global hyperscalers. Key factors identified included standardization, transparency, and interoperability. Open interfaces and standardized architectures could allow applications to be migrated more easily between different providers and help avoid technological lock-in effects.
- Interaction Between the Germany Stack and the EuroStack
Another group discussed the relationship between the Germany Stack and the European EuroStack initiative. The Germany Stack was described as a more technically oriented, bottom-up approach, while the EuroStack focuses more strongly on governance and regulatory frameworks.
Both approaches could complement each other in the future, particularly through shared standards, interfaces, and regulatory frameworks.
- Avoiding Additional Bureaucracy
Another discussion addressed how the Germany Stack itself could avoid becoming an additional bureaucratic structure. One proposed approach was that the Germany Stack should consistently focus on clear technical standards and protocols (for example based on RFC principles).
At the same time, it was emphasized that applications built on this foundation should be more user-oriented – not only from the perspective of public administration, but also for citizens and businesses. One example discussed was the idea of a central access layer, such as a digital platform or mobile application, through which various public services could be easily accessed.
Conclusion
The discussions within the Sovereignty Hub clearly showed that the Germany Stack is seen by many stakeholders as a promising approach to strengthening digital sovereignty.
At the same time, it became evident that beyond technological aspects, governance, binding frameworks, interoperability, and practical implementation will be decisive in determining whether the Germany Stack can establish itself as a sustainable foundation for Germany’s digital infrastructure.
The hub thus provided a valuable platform for open dialogue between technology providers, infrastructure operators, and experts from various fields of digital transformation.