The question of how Germany can strengthen its digital sovereignty is increasingly at the center of political and technological debates. One trigger for the current discussion is the decision by the Lower Saxony state government to invest around €30 million in an AI-based cyber defense system from a U.S. provider. While the state government argued that no comparable European solution was available on the market at the time of procurement, industry representatives and security experts dispute this assessment.
In an interview with the German Municipal Information Service (DEKOM), the President of the Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland e.V., Hans-Wilhelm Dünn, emphasized that Germany already possesses powerful cybersecurity technologies – which, however, often receive too little attention.
“We have excellent providers in Germany in the fields of cybersecurity and data analytics. The problem is not a lack of technology, but a massive gap in perception and implementation,” said Dünn.
Digital sovereignty does not mean isolation. Rather, it refers to the ability to make independent decisions about the use of digital technologies and to avoid long-term dependencies.
“Sovereignty means understanding what is happening in your networks and having the key to your data in your own hands,” Dünn explained.
For public institutions and municipalities in particular, it is crucial to view technological decisions from a strategic perspective. One-sided dependencies on individual technology ecosystems could create long-term economic, security-policy, and geopolitical risks.
These questions are also at the heart of the discussion surrounding the so-called Germany Stack (Deutschland-Stack) – an approach aimed at aligning digital infrastructures more closely with interoperable, sovereign, and European technologies.
The Cyber-Sicherheitsrat Deutschland e.V. addressed this debate during its Sovereignty Hub on March 5, 2026, in Berlin. Representatives from business, technology, and public administration discussed the role of the Germany Stack in strengthening digital sovereignty, technological interoperability, and a future-proof digital infrastructure.
The full interview (german) with Hans-Wilhelm Dünn published by the German Municipal Information Service (DEKOM) can be found here: Link